RSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN 


3  1822019460658 


rnia 
tl 


SAN 


MAR  2  1 1396 


Central  University  Library 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 
Please  Note:  This  item  is  subject  to  recall. 

Date  Due 


0139(7/93) 


UCSD  Lib. 


TELEGRAPHIC  TALES 

AND 

TELEGRAPHIC  HISTOEY. 

A  POPULAR  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH— ITS 
USES,  EXTENT  AND  OUTGROWTHS. 


By    W.    J.    JOHNSTON, 

EDITOR  OF  "THE  OPERATOR." 


W.    J.    JOHNSTON,   PUBLISHES, 
No.  9  MUBBAY  STREET. 


Copyright, 

W.   J .   JOHNSTON, 
1880. 


PREFACE. 


Some  time  ago  the  subscriber  published  a  number  of 
anecdotes  relating  to  telegraphy,  which  were  received 
with  an  unexpected  degree  of  favor.  They  were  so 
extensively  copied  in  the  newspapers  as  to  set  him 
thinking  that  the  preparation  of  such  a  book  as  this 
would  please  the  reading  public,  as  well  as  members  of 
the  telegraphic  profession.  Hence  the  undertaking 
herewith  put  on  the  book  market  as  a  candidate  for 
popular  favor.  No  more  is  claimed  for  it  than  that  it 
presents,  in  a  methodized  and  compact  form,  a  compre- 
hensive summary  of  such  telegraphic  information  as  is 
likely  to  be  valued  by  the  general  public,  and  of  use  to 
the  operator  because  of  the  convenient  method  of  its 
presentation — varied,  as  is  desirable,  with  lighter  matter. 
Very  considerable  labor  has  been  expended  upon  it, 
in  the  hope  and  belief  that  it  will  occupy  an  unique 
place  among  those  books  which  instruct  without  being 
tedious  and  entertain  wholesomely.  Should  this  expec- 
tation be  verified,  the  subscriber  will  be  justified  in  his 
confidence  that  the  reading  public  and  the  profession 
will  in  a  new  instance  show  their  appreciation  of  that 


sort  of  literary  work  which  constructs  miscellaneous 
materials  into  an  edifice  not  wanting,  as  he  trusts,  in 
symmetry  and  beauty.  The  well-read  operator  may  find 
individual  passages  herein  which  he  has  met  with  before; 
but  it  is  believed  that  he  will  be  the  readiest  to  appre- 
ciate the  judgment  and  industry  which  have  put  them 
exactly  in  their  proper  places  as  portions  of  a  book. 

The  subscriber's  modesty  would  lead  him  to  claim 
even  less  than  he  does  for  this  his  latest  publication,  had 
he  been  solely  engaged  in  its  production.  He  will  add 
no  more  than  his  hearty  acknowledgments  of  the  valu- 
able assistance  rendered  him  by  Mr.  Henry  G.  Taylor, 
a  New  York  journalist  whose  experience  and  graceful 
ease  of  expression  give  him  distinction  under  the 
severe  test  of  metropolitan  competition. 

W.  J.  JOHNSTON. 


CONTENTS. 


PRE-ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPHS. 


Signaling    among    the    ancients  —  Telephonic     system    of    the 
Afric 


an  negroes— Signaling  by  sound  in  Montenegro— Fire  commu 
nication  in  war  and  otherwise— Dr.  Hooke's  telegraph— The  sema- 
phore— Semaphoric  blunder  and  its  result— The  word  "telegraph"— 
Prediction  quoted  by  Addison. 

THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH— ITS  BEGINNING  AND  DEVELOPMENT. 
First  lightning-rod  man— Fractional  electricity  discovered— The 
Leyden  jar— Experiments  to  Franklin's  time— His  famous  kite  ex- 


periment— Robert  Stephenson's  boyish  imitation— Lomond's  elec- 
tric   signals  —  Lesage's    invention    of    electric   telegrai " 
twenty -four  wires— Reiser's  thirty-six  wire  telegraph— Si 
experiments  to  Morse  and  subsequently  to  present  time. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH  IN  THE  U.  S 29 

First  American  line— Apathy  of  scientists,  press  and  public— Why 
the  Herald  refused  to  encourage  the  telegraph— Cornell  and  Morse 
— First  apparatus— Interesting  relic— First  week  of  telegraph— Slen- 
der returns— Humors  of  early -day  telegraphy— Countryman,  tur- 
keys and  telegraph— Mr.  Stearns  and  obstreperous  church  bell — 
Honor  to  whom  honor  is  due  — Ronalds  — Morse— Henry— Vail — 
Claim  for  laborers—"  Be  jabers,  who  dug  the  post  holes  ?  " 

A.  CHAPTER  ABOUT  OPERATORS  AND  MESSENGERS 50 

The  operators'  view  of  human  nature— Their  faithfulness— Their 
literature— Their  difficulties  and  trials— Epileptic  telegrapher — 
Armless  operator— Deaf  operator  receiving  by  sound— The  ".  light- 
ning striker's  "  blunder  and  a  case  of  jealousy— Recognizing  by 
touch— Love  over  the  wire— Love  disappointment  in  humorous 
verse— First  marriage  by  telegraph— Absconding  operator  caught 
by  novice— Wonderful  speed  in  telegraphing— Messenger  service — 
•-'  •'  '  '  '  •'  arious  duties  they  perform- 

lessenger  mistaken  for  police- 


THE  TELEGRAPH  IN  WAR. 
Earliest  military  sigi 
Field  telegraphy  descr 
electricity-felegraph  in  civil  war-Its  great  value-Wh 


Earliest  military  signaling  —  Introduction  of  field  telegraphy- 
Field  telegraphy  described— Dangers  to  apparatus— Firing  guns  by 
-'  — '  ~  "^  .-....„_..*•  ~.  .  .,._.  ""iat  General 


Sherman  said  of  it—  Origin  of  U.  S.  Military  Telegraph—  Cost  of  ser- 
vice during  war—  Duties  of  cipher  operators—  Official  acknowl- 
edgment of  their  services—  Anecdotes  of  military  operators'  ready 
wit,  heroic  courage  and  nervous 
—  Military   operators'  poor  quar 
Richmond  taken—  Receipt  of  the 


wit,  heroic  courage  and  nervousness— Funny  war  story— Another 
"   poor  quarters— A   provident  telegrapher — 
ipt  of  the  great  news— Lincoln's  assassina- 
tion—Grand feat  of  Prussian  soldier,  and  heroism  of  French  fe- 
male operator. 
CABLE  TELEGRAPHS.. 


General—  The  Atlantic  cable—  First  suggestion  of  it  —  Its  origin—  Or- 

able— The 

gestor 
Field—  Cost  of  first  Atlantic  cable—  Recent  improvements  In  cable 


ganization  of  company—  Laying  cable—  The  Great   Eastern—  Dis- 
couragements— First  message—  Suggestor  wittily  silenced  by  Mr. 


laying— Mr.  Field's  services— Cable  operators— Cable  codes— A  spec- 
imen—Its interpretation. 

HUMORS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH 107 

Economical  Irishman— Timid  old  lady— Apprehensive  Texan- 
Witty,  incongruous  and  rhyming  telegrams— A  "  killing  "  blunder 
— The  "  additional  wurred  "—A  furious  message— Satchel  by  tele- 
graph—Snubbing a  king— A  proper  old  lady— Little  "Johnny  Rus- 
sell "-Peter  to  Margaret  Flagarty-He  couldn't  be  fooled-"  She 
writes  like  a  man  "—Model  (?)  Maine  man— Hollow  and  "  hello  "— 

Fooling  savages— "Onnateral  fixing  "—Chicago  and Witty 

illustration  —  Electrifying  loaf ers  —  Shocking  the  negroes— Blind- 
folding the  "  masheen  "—A  crammer. 


TELEGRAPHIC  "BULLS" 


nces  of  oper- 


A  fatal  "  bull  "—Matrimony  killed  by  a  "  bull "— Instsn 
ators'  "  bulls  "—A  lord's  mistake— John  Brown  and  Seaton  Bros.— 
Ale  or  oil— Too  much  coffee— Blessings  in  disguise— A  profitable  mis- 
take—A military  "bull"  that  was   not  all  a  " bull "  —  Senders' 


'  bulls  "—Habit  and  halibut— "  Bulls  "  from  bad  spelling— A  fishy 
story— Tragic  "  bull"— Injustice  to  operators. 

LIGHTNING  FREAKS  AND  TRAGEDIES 138 

Deaths  from  lightning— Effects  in  different  countries— A  triple  tra- 
"y— Curious  freaks  of   lightning— Some  wonderful   instances- 
ing  in  telegraph  offices— Operators  killed. 

SHARP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH 148 

Abuse  of  General  McClellan's  name— A  modern  "  St.  John  "—Big 
swindle  in  Toledo—"  Spiritualistic  "  swindling— Rappers'  tricks— 
Their  magnets— How  to  make  them— Sir  Charles  Wneatstone's  ex- 
periments—Two good  stories  of  sharp  practice  by  operators— Tam- 
pering with  cipher  message— The  biters  bit— Great  bank  swindle- 
Barb's  telegraphic  trap  for  burglars. 

THE  TELEGRAPH  AN  UNIVERSAL  INSTITUTION 160 

A  well-traveled  message— Spanish  peasants  and  telegraph— Tele- 
graph in  Morocco— China— India— The  East  in  general— Japan— In 


THE  WEATHERJREPORTS.. 

rer — His  j 

;ure— 
i  of  sii 


Death  of  General  Meyer— His  account  of  storm  signal  system— its 
value  to  commerce  and  agriculture— The  New  York  station— Cipher 


rigin  of   weather  reports 
Institution— Prof essor  Henry. 

THE  RAILROAD  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM 

Originated  in  England— First  instance  of  train  dispatching  in  this 
country— System  at  Grand  Central  depot— Moving  trains  by  tele- 
graphic orders— Official  instructions— Train  dispatchers  and  oper- 
ators —  Their  responsibility  —  Thrilling  incident  —  Operator  who 
"forgot  "—Noble  operator— Latest  inventions  in  railroad  signaling 
—The  train  telegraph  — No  more  screaming  engines— Simplying 
locomotives  with  water  by  electricity  —  Fun  on  the  railroad- 
Waking  the  Pullman  porter— Operators'  anti-suporific. 

ELECTRICITY  AND  LIFE 

General  remarks— Electric  girl  of  La  Perriere^-Elec 


•marks— Electric  girl  of  La  Perriere— Electrical  lady  of 
ty— Electricity  on  dinner  table^Feeling  pulse  by  tele- 
_._,._    _  _  velopment  of  growth  by  electricity— Uses  in  surgery  and 
dentistry— Electricity  as  a  healer— An  "  anti-fat "  story. 

OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH 218 

The  electric  light— Edison's  description— The  light  at  Niagara- 
Experiments  in  San  Francisco— Proposed  illumination  of  Holyoke 
—Use  in  stores,  stear  'lips,  and  in  war— The  telephone— How  con- 
structed—The Gemini  name  for  it— Its  invention— Telephone  ser- 
vice meter— Transmitting  sermons  by  telephone— First  Instance — 
Mr.  Beecher's— The  telephone  in  Jersey  City  law  courts— Communi- 
cating between  ships— Use  in  wooing— In  military  operations- 
Music— Humors  of  the  telephone— The  singing  telephone— Yarn 
from  Pine  Bluff— Joke  on  reporters— One  for  Dawdles— Marriage 
by  telephone— Telegraphing  by  light— The  photophone— Electrical 
egg  hatching  and  seed  germination— Tlieatrical  th under—  Tooth- 
ache cured  by  electricity— Gas  lighting  and  bell  ringing  by  same 
means— Electricity  as  an  umbrella— In  taming  horses— In  connec- 
tion witli  .M iy  ami  Simkf.Vs  meetings-  'I'dcui-ajiiiiiigby  electrical 

Maps  by  telegraph— Magnetic  magic  writii 


air  currents— 
trie  dri 


taps  by  telegraph— Magnetic  magic  writing— Elec- 
>wer— Electricity  in  managing  refractory  horses— 
iving  by  electricity— Diagrams  of  targets  over  the  wire- 
Electric  combs  and  brushes— New  uses  for  the  sun's  rays— The 
ocean  a  source  of  electricity— Suggested  use  of  electricity  in  ex- 
ecuting criminals— Slaughtering  cattle  and  killing  whales  ' 
electricity— Electric  clocks  that  require  no  wir  " 


by  steam  at  sea—  Electricity  in  steam—  The   Edison   electric 
imotlve  —  Description   of    it  —  Electricity 


aiding   weary   cash 


TELEGRAPHIC  TALES 

AND 

TELEGRAPHIC    H  ISTORY. 


PRE-ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPHS. 

When  signaling  as  a  mode  of  communication  was 
first  adopted,  no  amount  of  research  can  ascertain.  We 
find  it  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  time  when  it  was  not 
convenient,  if  not  necessary,  and  when  human  ingenuity 
was  incapable  of  providing  it. 

One  of  the  earliest  recorded  systems  of  telegraphy  for 
signaling  over  long  distances  originated  among  the  Afri- 
can negroes,  and  has  been  practiced  from  tune  imme- 
morial. The  means  used  are  telephonic,  the  signals 
being  read  by  sound,  and  not  by  the  eye. 

The  "elliembic,"  as  the  instrument  used  is  termed, 
is  still  in  existence,  and  used  in  the  Cameroons  Coun- 
try, on  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  By  the  sounds  pro- 
duced on  striking  it,  the  natives  carry  on  conversation 
with  great  rapidity,  and  at  several  miles  distance.  The 
noises  are  made  to  produce  a  perfect  and  distinct  lan- 
guage, as  intelligible  to  the  operator  as  that  uttered  by 
the  human  voice. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  existence  of 
this  contrivance,  capable  of  such  useful  effects,  implies 
evolution,  probably  carried  on  through  a  series  of  ages, 


8  PRE-ELECTBIC    TELEGKAPHS. 

from  devices  which,  we  may  presume,  originated  in  the 
very  infancy  of  human  society. 

One  of  these  still  prevails  in  Montenegro,  where, 
when  a  shepherd  in  the  mountains  finds  himself  in  want 
of  society,  he  sends  out  at  random  a  peculiar  kind  of 
yell,  with  a  view  of  attracting  the  attention  of  any 
one  similarly  situated,  who  may  chance  to  be  within 
hearing  upon  some  other  mountain  side,  and  may  also 
feel  a  desire  for  conversation.  It  is  well  known  at  what 
a  great  distance  shrill  sounds  may  be  distinctly  heard 
in  the  mountainous  regions.  The  unseen  friend,  whose 
ears  have  caught  the  sound,  responds  in  the  same  way, 
and  then  begins  a  dialogue  about  their  flocks  and  herds, 
or  any  other  country  gossip  ;  and  should  there  chance 
to  be  news  of  public  interest,  such  as  of  any  important 
person  or  foreigner  passing  that  way,  the  receiver  of 
the  intelligence  shouts  it  out  in  the  open  air  for  the 
benefit  of  the  mountain  nearest  to  him,  and  so  it  passes 
from  one  to  another  through  a  considerable  part  of  the 
country. 

In  saying  that  signaling  by  sound  probably  antici- 
pated all  other  methods  of  telegraphing,  we  are  simply 
saying  that  the  most  natural  and  obvious  mode  of  com- 
munication, namely,  that  by  means  of  the  voice,  was  the 
first  made  of  service  in  the  rapid  transmission  of  intelli- 
gence over  long  distances. 

The  employment  of  objects  to  be  seen  was  a  later 
expression  of  human  ingenuity,  intended  to  better  an- 
swer the  demand  for  easy  and  far-reaching  communica- 
tion. And  what  better  for  this  purpose  than  fire — a 
ready  servant  and  the  most  available  for  its  conspicu- 


PRE-ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPHS.  9 

ousness ;  real  even  in  the  glare  of  day,  and  made  in- 
tense by  surrounding  darkness  during  the  night  ? 

Accordingly,  we  find  records  of  the  use  of  fire-signal- 
ing during  the  Greek  and  Roman  wars ;  and  in  the 
writings  of  Polybius,  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  years 
before  Christ,  there  is  an  account  of  a  signal  corps  at- 
tached to  the  military.  Down  through  the  ages  "  fire- 
swingers  "  were  employed  as  signal  men. 

It  is  related  that  at  the  siege  of  Vienna,  John  Smith, 
the  explorer  of  Virginia,  used  the  plan  of  Polybius  with 
effect,  to  arrange  with  the  besieged  forces  for  a  sortie, 
he  having  learned  it  from  the  Turks. 

The  quaint  old  English  works  of  1650,  or  thereabouts, 
tell  of  "  a  marvelous  device  by  which  those  who  know 
may  converse  so  far  as  light  may  be  known  from  dark- 
ness." As  a  matter  of  course,  every  reader  is  acquaint- 
ed with  the  modern  use  of  the  fiery  cross,  and  certainly 
with  the  telegraphic  use  of  fireworks. 

In  1684  Dr.  Hooke  proposed  a  kind  of  mechanical 
telegraph,  which,  however,  was  not  carried  into  opera- 
tion. He  prepared  as  many  different  shaped  figures  in 
wood,  as,  for  example,  squares,  triangles,  circles,  etc., 
as  there  are  letters  in  the  alphabet.  He  exhibited  them 
successively  in  the  required  order,  from  behind  a  screen, 
and  proposed  that  torches  or  other  lights,  combined  in 
different  arrangements,  should  supply  their  place  at 
night.  Twenty  years  later  Amontous,  of  Paris,  ex- 
hibited some  experiments  before  the  royal  family  of 
France  and  the  members  of  the  Academy  of  Science, 
showing  the  practicability  of  the  system. 

Semaphoric  signaling  contrivances  were   in   use   in 


10  PRE-EI.ECTRIC    TELEGRAPHS. 

various  countries  down  to  within  a  half  century  of  the 
present  year  (1880).  That  employed  by  the  English  Ad- 
miralty was  not  abolished  until  the  end  of  the  year  1847. 

In  contrast  with  the  convenience  of  the  electric  tele- 
graph it  was  cumbrous  and  costly.  The  expense  of 
working  and  mounting  the  line  from  London  to  Ports- 
mouth was  three  thousand  three  hundred  pounds  ($16,- 
500)  per  annum. 

Though  of  great  service  to  the  government,  it  was, 
of  course,  only  available  in  clear  weather.  Vexatious 
interruptions  continually  took  place,  and  droll  accidents 
occasionally  resulted  from  the  sudden  cessation  of  com- 
munication, from  a  fog,  or  similar  cause,  during  the 
transmission  of  a  message. 

When,  for  example,  the  British  army  was  fighting 
under  "Wellington  in  Spain,  news  was  anxiously  expected 
from  that  great  commander  through  the  Admiralty  sig- 
nals. The  public  was  in  a  feverish  excitement,  when 
one  day  the  disastrous  message  was  received :  "  Well- 
ington defeated." 

The  funds  were  violently  agitated,  the  people  and  the 
government  were  bewildered,  and  terrible  rumors  of 
enormous  slaughter  and  great  loss  of  guns,  colors,  and 
ammunition  were  heard  on  all  sides.  It  turned  out, 
however,  that,  just  as  the  word  "  defeated "  had  been 
deciphered  at  some  part  of  the  line,  a  sudden  mist  had 
come  on  and  cut  off  the  remainder  of  the  message. 
When  this  inopportune  visitor  had  passed  away,  the 
public  mind  was  instantly  relieved  with  the  news  that 
the  message  was  not  "Wellington  defeated,"  but 
"  Wellington  defeated  the  French." 


PRE-ELECTRIC    TELEGRAPHS.  11 

Lest  readers  should  take  exception  to  the  use  of  the 
word  "telegraph,"  with  reference  to  signaling  before 
the  introduction  of  the  electric  telegraph,  it  is  interest- 
ing to  know  that  in  an  article  published  in  "  Nicholson's 
Journal  of  Philosophy  "  for  October,  1798,  and  entitled, 
"  An  Essay  on  the  Art  of  Conveying  Secret  and  Swift 
Intelligence,"  by  Richard  Lovell  Edgeworth,  the  word 
"  telegraph  "  is  frequently  used,  and  in  such  a  way  as 
to  show  that  it  was  then  a  common  current  term.  The 
following  extract  from  the  paper  shows  what  could  even 
then  be  done  in  the  way  of  instantaneous  transmission 
of  intelligence :  "  In  September,  1796,  the  lord  lieuten- 
ant ordered  me  to  prepare  telegraphs  for  an  experiment 
before  his  excellency.  In  consequence  I  constructed 
four  new  telegraphs.  I  had  found  that  the  large  ma- 
chines, thirty  feet  high,  with  which  my  sons  talked,  in 
September,  1794,  across  the  Channel,  between  Ireland 
and  Scotland,  were  liable  to  accidents  in  stormy  weather, 
etc." 

In  the  grand  march  of  human  progress  all  previous 
methods  of  distant  communication  were  surpassed  in 
general  availability  by  the  electric  telegraph,  which, 
associated  with  locomotion  by  the  agency  of  steam,  in- 
troduced a  new  era  into  the  history  of  civilization. 

Very  curiously,  Addison,  in  No.  241  of  the  Spectator, 
December  6th,  1711,  quoting  from  a  mediaeval  writer  of 
monkish  Latin,  realizes  the  instrument  used  for  tele- 
graphic purposes  in  this  nineteenth  century. 

He  says : 

"  Strada,  in  one  of  his  Prolusions,  gives  an  account 
of  a  chimerical  correspondence  between  two  friends,  by 


12  I»RE  ELECTKIC    TELEGRAPHS. 

the  help  of  a  certain  loadstone,  which  had  such  virtue 
in  it,  that  if  it  touched  two  several  needles,  when  one  of 
the  needles  so  touched  began  to  move,  the  other,  though 
at  never  so  great  a  distance,  moved  at  the  same  time 
and  in  the  same  manner.  He  tells  us  that  the  two 
friends,  being  each  of  them  possessed  of  one  of  these 
needles,  made  a  kind  of  dial  plate,  inscribing  it  with  the 
four-and-twenty  letters,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
hours  of  the  day  are  marked  upon  the  ordinary  dial- 
plate.  They  then  fixed  one  of  the  needles  on  each  of 
these  plates  in  such  a  manner  that  it  could  be  moved 
round  without  impediment  so  as  to  touch  any  of  the 
four-and-twenty  letters.  Upon  their  separating  from 
one  another  into  distant  countries,  they  agreed  to 
withdraw  themselves  punctually  into  their  closets  at  a 
certain  hour  of  the  day,  and  to  converse  with  one  an- 
other by  means  of  this  invention.  Accordingly,  when 
they  were  some  hundred  miles  asunder,  each  of  them 
shut  himself  up  in  his  closet  at  the  time  appointed,  and 
immediately  cast  his  eye  upon  his  dial-plate.  If  he  had 
a  mind  to  write  anything  to  his  friend,  he  directed  his 
needle  to  every  letter  that  formed  the  words  which  he 
had  occasion  for,  making  a  little  pause  at  the  end  of 
every  word  or  sentence,  to  avoid  confusion.  The  friend, 
in  the  meanwhile,  saw  his  own  sympathetic  needle  mov- 
ing of  itself  to  every  letter  which  that  of  his  corres- 
pondent pointed  at.  By  this  means  they  talked  to- 
gether across  a  whole  continent,  and  conveyed  their 
thoughts  to  one  another  in  an  instant  over  cities  or 
mountains,  seas  or  deserts.  *****  if  ever 
this  invention  should  be  revived  or  put  into  practice,  I 
would  propose  that  upon  the  lovers'  dial-plate  there 
should  be  written  not  only  the  four-and-twenty  letters, 
but  several  entire  words  which  have  always  a  place  in 
passionate  epistles,  as  '  Flames,  Darts,  Die,  Languish, 
Absence,  Cupid,  Heart,  Eyes,  Hang,  Drown,  and  the 
like.'  This  would  very  much  abridge  the  lover's  pains 


PBE  ELECTRIC  TKLEGKAI'HS.  13 

in  this  way  of  writing  a  letter,  as  it  would  enable  him 
to  express  the  most  useful  and  significant  words  with  a 
single  touch  of  the  needle." 

"We  must  now  take  our  readers  from  the  elegant 
periods  of  Addison  into  an  account  of  the  successive 
experiments  and  discoveries  which  led  up  to  the  in- 
vention of  the  electric  telegraph,  and  afterward  to  its 
remarkable  perfection  as  we  now  know  it. 


14  THE  ELECTKIC  TELEGRAPH: 


THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH— ITS  BEGINNING 
AND  DEVELOPMENT. 

"  Coining  events,"  says  a  time-honored  maxim,  "  cast 
their  shadows  before."  Long  ere  the  electric  telegraph 
became  an  "institution,"  its  feasibility  had  been  antici- 
pated by  scientific  minds,  with  greater  or  less  clearness. 
There  is  nothing  more  interesting  in  the  history  of  ex- 
periment than  the  successive  results  of  the  attempt  to 
dominate  the  electric  fluid.  The  imagination  is  awed 
by  the  sublimity  of  human  endeavor,  which,  in  their 
turn,  overcomes  one  natural  force  after  another.  Water, 
air,  fire,  steam,  Lightning,  have  had  to  succumb  to  the 
potent  spirit  of  man,  "for  whom  all  things  were  made;" 
and  the  future  will,  doubtless,  see  still  stronger  in- 
stances than  the  past,  of  the  triumph  which  intellect 
and  courage  gain  in  the  struggle  with  nature.  Proba- 
bly never  is  this  glorious  victory  due  to  one  man.  The 
electric  telegraph  is  no  exception  to  the  general  rule. 
As  Robert  Sabine  says:  "It  grew  up  little  by  little,  each 
inventor  adding  his  little  to  advance  it  toward  perfec- 
tion." 

BEFORE  1794. 

Our  familiar  friend  the  lightning  rod  was  an  appli- 
ance of  the  earliest  civilization,  namely,  that  of  the  an- 
cient Egyptians.  These  people,  alas!  had  experiences 
of  the  persistency  of  the  brazen-cheeked  lightning-rod 
man,  who  fitly  represented  the  first  and  simplest  pro- 
cess in  the  subjugation  of  the  electric  fluid. 


ITS    BEGINNING    AND    DEVELOPMENT.  15 

We  are  in  the  dark  as  to  the  history  of  man's  rela- 
tions with  this  subtle  agent  from  the  last  days  of  an- 
cient Egypt  until  about  six  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
when  Thales,  of  Miletz,  discovered  that  the  rubbing  of 
amber  (electron,  in  Greek)  produced  what  is,  perhaps 
somewhat  clumsily,  called  frictional  electricity.  Two  hun- 
dred years  later,  Plato  attempted  the  first  theory  of  elec- 
tricity. Ten  years  before  the  Christian  era,  Plutarchus  is 
recorded  as  having  described  the  electric  phenomena 
observed  in  his  time.  Through  a  very  long  hiatus  we 
arrive  at  the  date  1690,  A.  D.,  when  Otto  Van  Guericke, 
of  Germany,  made  a  friction  electric  machine.  Thirty- 
eight  years  afterward,  Etienne  Grey,  of  England,  dis- 
covered the  difference  between  conductors  and  insula- 
tors; and,  in  the  following  year,  he  and  another  En- 
glishman, named  Wheeler,  succeeded  in  transmitting  an 
electric  shock  through  several  hundred  feet  of  wire. 
The  Leyden  jar  was  invented  in  1745,  by  Musschen- 
brook,  of  Leyden,  Holland.  It  may  be  described  as  a 
glass  jar  or  bottle  used  to  accumulate  electricity.  The 
jar  is  coated  with  tin  foil  within  and  without  nearly  to 
its  top,  and  is  surmounted  by  a  brass  knob  for  the  pur- 
pose of  charging  it  with  electricity. 

We  next  turn  to  our  own  shores  and  the  experiment 
of  the  illustrious  Franklin,  who  gives  the  following  ac- 
count of  it,  in  a  letter  written  by  himself  to  Peter  Col- 
linson,  Esq.,  P.  R.  S.,  London,  which  probably  contains 
about  all  that  is  definitely  know  in  relation  to  the 
American  philosopher's  discovery  of  the  analogy  be- 
tween the  electric  spark  and  lightning.  This  had  been 
previously  conjectured.  So  early  as  1708  Dr.  Wall  had 


16  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH: 

pointed  out  a  resemblance  between  them.  In  1735 
Grey,  whom  we  mentioned  just  now,  had  stated  that 
they  differ  only  in  degree ;  and  four  years  before  Frank- 
lin's great  experiment,  the  Abbe  Nollet  gave  more  sub- 
stantial reasons  than  had  been  adduced  by  Grey,  for 
agreement  with  him.  But  to  Franklin's  letter,  which  is 
taken  from  a  quarto  volume  published  in  London  in 
1774,  and  entitled,  "Experiments  and  Observations  on 
Electricity,  made  at  Philadelphia,  in  America,  by  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  LL.  D.  and  F.  R.  S." 

FRANKLIN'S  OWN  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  EXPERIMENT  WITH  THE  KITE. 


"As  frequent  mention  is  made  in  public  papers  : 
Europe  of  the  success  of  the  Philadelphia  experii 


from 

experiment 

for  drawing  the  electric  fire  from  clouds  by  means  of 
pointed  rods  of  iron  erected  on  high  buildings,  etc.,  it 
may  be  agreeable  to  the  curious  to  be  informed  that  the 
same  experiment  has  succeeded  in  Philadelphia,  though 
made  in  a  different  and  more  easy  manner,  which  is  as 
follows : 

"Make  a  small  cross  of  two  light  strips  of  cedar,  the 
arms  so  long  as  to  reach  to  ftie  corners  of  a  large  thin 
silk  handkerchief  when  extended ,  tie  the  corners  of  the 
handkerchief  to  the  extremities  of  the  cross,  so  you 
have  the  body  of  a  kite,  which  being  properly  accomo- 
dated  with  a  tail,  loop  and  string,  will  rise  in  the  air 
like  those  made  of  paper;  but  this  being  of  silk  is  bet- 
ter fitted  to  bear  the  wet  and  wind  of  a  thundergust 
without  tearing.  To  the  top  of  the  upright  stick  of  the 
cross  is  to  be  fixed  a  very  sharp  pointed  wire,  rising  a 
foot  or  more  above  the  wood.  To  the  end  of  the  twine, 
next  the  hand,  is  to  be  tied  a  silk  ribbon,  and  where  the 
silk  and  twine  join  a  key  may  be  fastened.  This  kite  is 
to  be  raised  when  a  thundergust  appears  to  be  coming 


ITS    BEGESTfING    AND    DEVELOPMENT.  17 

on,  and  the  person  who  holds  the  string  must  standwith- 
in  a  door  or  window,  or  under  some  cover,  so  that  the 
silk  ribbon  may  not  be  wet,  and  care  must  be  taken 
that  the  twine  does  not  touch  the  frame  of  the  door  or 
window.  As  soon  as  any  of  the  thunder  clouds  come 
over  the  kite,  the  pointed  wire  will  draw  the  electric 
fire  from  them,  and  the  kite,  with  all  the  twine  will  be 
electrified,  and  the  loose  filaments  of  the  twine  will  stand 
out  every  way,  and  be  attracted  by  an  approaching  fin- 
ger And  when  the  rain  has  wet  the  kite  and  twine,  so 
that  it  can  conduct  the  electric  fire  freely,  you  will  find 
it  stream  out  plentifully  from  the  key  on  the  approach 
of  your  knuckle.  At  this  key  the  phial  (Leyden  jar) 
may  be  charged;  and  from  the  electric  fire  thus  ob- 
tained spirits  may  be  kindled,  and  all  the  other  electric 
experiments  be  formed  which  are  usually  done  by  the 
help  of  a  rubbed  glass  globe  or  tube,  and  thereby  the 
sameness  of  the  electric  matter  with  that  of  lightning 
completely  demonstrated.  B.  FRANKLIN 

"Oct.  19,  1752." 

Eight  here  is  the  proper  place  to  record  an  amusing 
anecdote  of  Robert  Stephenson,  who  worthily  bore  the 
name  which  his  father  had  made  immortal,  and  exem- 
plified in  his  fondness  as  a  boy  for  scientific  experiments 
that  "The  child  is  father  of  the  man."  This  young 
gentleman,  we  are  told,  was  very  fond  of  reducing  his 
scientific  reading  to  practice ;  and  after  studying  Frank- 
lin's description  of  the  lightning  experiment,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  spend  his  store  of  Saturday  pennies  in  pur- 
chasing about  half  a  mile  of  copper  wire.  Having  pre- 
pared his  kite,  he  sent  it  up  in  the  field  opposite  his 
father's  door,  and  bringing  the  wire,  insulated  by  means 
of  a  few  feet  of  silk  cord,  over  the  backs  of  some  of 
Farmer  Wigham's  cows,  he  soon  had  them  skipping 
2 


18  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH  : 

about  the  field  in  all  directions,  with  their  tails  up. 
One  day  he  had  his  kite  flying  at  the  cottage  door  as 
his  father's  galloway  was  hanging  by  the  bridle  to  the 
paling,  waiting  for  the  master  to  mount.  Bringing  the 
end  of  the  wire  just  over  the  pony's  crupper,  so  smart 
an  electric  shock  was  given  it  that  the  brute  was  almost 
knocked  down.  At  this  juncture  the  father  issued  from 
the  door,  riding-whip  in  hand,  and  was  witness  to  the 
scientific  trick  just  played  off  upon  his  galloway  "Ah! 
you  mischievous  scoundrel!"  cried  he  to  the  boy,  who 
ran  off  He  inwardly  chuckled  with  pride,  nevertheless, 
at  Robert's  successful  experiment. 

After  Franklin's  audacious  and  most  notable  experi- 
ment, the  history  of  the  electric  telegraph  hastens 
apace.  We  have  but  to  record  one  more  experiment, 
before  arriving  at  the  date  usually  given  as  the  first  in 
the  long  series  which  indicates  the  development  of  tele- 
graphs by  electricity.  This  is  1787,  when  a  French- 
man named  Lomond  succeeded  in  communicating  sig- 
nals from  one  house  to  another  by  electroscopic  action. 

It  was  in  the  year  1774  that  George  Louis  Lesage, 
of  Geneva,  constructed  a  telegraph  composed  of  twenty- 
four  line  wires,  corresponding  to  the  twenty- four  letters 
of  the  alphabet,  and  by  the  use  of  frictional  electricity 
and  pith  balls,  succeeded  in  transmitting  intelligible 
signals  over  the  wires  to  a  distance.  The  date  men- 
tioned is  accordingly  the  time  when  the  electric  tele- 
graph was  invented,  and  Lesage  was  its  inventor. 

M.  Lomond's  name  occurs  once  more  among  the  emi- 
nent men  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  improvements 
previous  to  the  introduction  of  the  present  system  of 


ITS    BEGINNING   AND    DEVELOPMENT.  19 

rapid  communication  between  widely  different  places, 
to  which  all  precedent  systems  were  but  toys  in  com- 
parison, although  they  were  of  great  use  in  preparing 
the  way  for  it. 

The  following  passage  occurs  in  "Arthur  Young's 
Travels  in  France,"  published  in  Dublin  in  1793.  The 
date  of  the  letter  from  which  the  extract  is  taken  is  Oct. 
16th,  1787:  "In  the  evening  to  Monsieur  Lomond,  a 
very  ingenins  and  inventive  mechanic,  who  has  made  an 
improvement  in  the  jenny  for  spinning  cotton.  In 
electricity  he  has  made  a  remarkable  discovery.  You 
write  two  or  three  words  on  paper ;  he  takes  it  with 
him  into  a  room,  and  turns  a  machine  inclosed  in  a  cy 
lindrical  case,  at  the  top  of  which  is  an  electrometer, 
and  a  small  fine  pitch  ball;  a  wire  connects  with  a 
cylinder  and  electrometer  in  a  distant  apartment,  and 
his  wife,  by  remarking  the  corresponding  motions  of 
the  ball,  writes  down  the  words  they  indicate,  from 
which  it  appears  that  he  has  formed  an  alphabet  of  mo- 
tions. As  the  form  of  the  wire  makes  no  difference  in 
the  effect,  the  correspondence  may  be  carried  on  to  any 
distance  within  or  without  a  fortified  town,  for  instance, 
or  for  purposes  much  more  worthy.  Whatever  the  use 
may  be,  the  invention  is  beautiful." 

In  the  year  1794,  M.  Reiser,  of  Geneva,  used  thirty- 
six  insulated  wires  for  letters  and  numerals,  in  connec- 
tion with  a  like  number  of  narrow  strips  of  tin  foil 
pasted  on  glass ;  the  letters  and  figures  were  cut  in  the 
foil  and  made  visible  by  the  passage  of  the  electric 
spark.  A  year  later,  Tiberius  Cavallo,  in  England,  sent 
explosive  and  other  electric  signals  through  fine  insu- 


20  THE   ELECTRIC    TELEGRAPH  5 

lated  copper  wire,  using  Ley  den  jars,  and  sending 
"sparks  at  different  intervals  according  to  a  settled 
plan."  Three  additional  experiments,  according  to 
Steinheil,  put  it  beyond  a  doubt  that  frictional  electric- 
ity might  be  made  a  successful  means  of  telegraphic  in- 
tercourse. These  were  (1)  That  of  D.  F.  Salva,  Spain, 
who  in  the  year  1798,  worked  an  electric  telegraph 
through  twenty-six  miles,  using  a  single  wire,  and  the 
sparks  of  a  Leyden  jar  for  signals.  (2)  That  of  Francis 
Ronalds,  who,  in  1816,  constructed  in  England  an  ex- 
perimental telegraph  line,  of  a  single  insulated  wire 
eight  miles  long,  operated  by  an  electrical  machine,  or 
small  Leyden  jar.  His  elementary  signal  was  the  di- 
vergence of  the  pith  balls  of  a  Canton's  electrometer, 
produced  by  the  communication  of  a  statical  charge  to 
the  wire.  Lettered  dials,  rotated  synchronously  at 
each  end  of  the  line,  served,  in  connection  with  the  pith 
balls,  to  indicate  the  letter  designated  by  the  sender. 
This  dial  system  was  the  precursor  of  Wheatstone's  dial 
telegraph  in  1839  ;  House  s  letter  printing  telegraph  in 
1846;  and  Hughes  printing  telegraph  in  1855;  and  (3) 
that  of  Hai-rison  Gray  Dyar,  America,  who,  in  1823, 
constructed  a  telegraph  line  on  Long  Island,  support- 
ing his  wires  by  glass  insulators  fixed  on  trees  and 
poles;  the  electric  signals  printed  themselves  upon  lit- 
mus paper,  the  spacing  of  the  marks  indicating  the  let; 
ters  and  other  signs.  Just  as  Dyar  and  his  partner 
Brown  were  seeking  capital  to  set  up  a  line  between 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  a  blackmailing  agent,  fail- 
ing to  extort  the  concession  of  a  large  share  in  the  en- 
terprise, obtained  a  writ  against  the  two  partners  on  a 


ITS  BEGINNING  AND  DEVELOPMENT.  21 

charge  of  conspiracy  to  carry  on  secret  communication 
between  the  cities!  The  case  was  never  brought  to 
trial,  but  the  enterprise  was  blocked. 

For  the  above  information,  beginning  with  the  date 
1794,  we  are  largely  indebted  to  an  article  which  recent- 
ly appeared  in  the  Scientific  American,  reviewing  a  work 
on  the  origin  and  development  of  the  electro-magnetic 
telegraph,  with  special  reference  to  Professor  Joseph 
Henry's  contributions  thereto.  The  work  referred  to  is 
from  the  pen  of  William  B.  Taylor,  an  authority  on  the 
subject.  We  quote  the  remainder  of  the  article  as  be- 
ing the  best  summary  of  the  subject  with  which  we  are 
acquainted,  of  particular  use  to  the  student  of  electric- 
ity, and  of  great  value,  for  reference,  to  the  general 
reader. 

TELEGRAPHS    BY   GALVANISM. 

"1808.— The  first  to  apply  to  telegraphy  the  galvanic 
battery  introduced  by  Volta,  in  1800,  was  Dr.  Samuel 
Thomas  Von  Soemmering,  of  Munich.  He  employed 
the  energy  of  a  powerful  voltaic  pile  to  bring  about  the 
decomposition  of  water  by  means  of  thirty-five  gold 
pins  immersed  in  an  oblong  glass  trough.  Each  of 
these  electrodes  was  in  connection  with  one  of  the 
thirty -five  wires  forming  the  line.  The  bubbles  evolved 
as  these  electrodes  were  received  in  figured  and  lettered 
tubes,  and  the  messages  were  thus  spelled  out.  In 
1810  Soemmering  telegraphed  through  two  miles  of 
wire. 

"1816.— Dr.  John  Redman  Coxe,  of  Philadelphia, 
suggested  a  system  substantially  the  same  as  Soemmer- 


22  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH  : 

ing's  (of  which  he  appeared  to  be  ignorant).  He  also 
proposed  to  accomplish  the  same  result  by  decomposing 
metallic  salts,  as  was  afterward  done. 

"1843.— Mr.  Eobert  Smith,  Scotland,  devised  a  gal- 
vano-chemical  telegraph,  carrying  out  practically  the 
suggestion  of  Dr.  Coxe.  At  first  he  used  a  separate 
wire  for  each  letter,  the  message  being  printed  on  a 
strip  of  paper  wet  with  a  solution  of  ferrocyanide  of 
potassium.  Subsequently  Mr.  Smith  reduced  his  line 
to  a  single  circuit  of  two  wires,  and  worked  his  system 
through  1,800  yards  of  fence  wire  (1846). 

"1846. — Mr.  Alexander  Bain,  Scotland,  patented  in 
England  a  galvano-chemical  telegraph,  different  in  me- 
chanical details,  but  similar  in  its  chemical  record  to  the 
system  of  Smith. 

"1849.— Prof.  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  New  York,  pa- 
tented in  this  country  a  telegraph  similar  to  Smith. 

TELEGRAPHS  BY  GALVANO-MAGNETISM. 

"1820. — Hans  Christian  Oersted,  Copenhagen,  redis- 
covered the  directive  influence  of  a  galvanic  conductor 
on  a  magnetic  needle  (Komagnosi's  of  the  same  in  1802 
having  attracted  no  attention).  The  same  year  (1820) 
Professor  Schweiger,  of  Halle,  made  the  first  real  gal- 
vanometer; and  shortly  afterward  Ampere,  in  Paris, 
proved  experimentally  the  feasibility  of  an  electro-mag- 
netic telegraph,  in  which  the  galvanometer  should  take 
the  place  of  the  electrometer  employed  by  Lesage. 

"1823. — Baron  Paul  L.  Schilling,  of  Cronstadt,  Rus- 
sia, practically  applied  Ampere's  suggestion.  In  his 


ITS  BEGINNING   AND   DEVELOPMENT.  23 

apparatus  signals  were  produced  by  five  galvanometer 
needles,  provided  with  independent  circuits. 

"1824. — Peter  Barlow,  England,  experimenting  with 
considerable  lengths  of  wire,  to  test  the  practicability 
of  Ampere  s  suggestion,  was  convinced  that  it  was  im- 
practicable, owing  to  the  rapid  dimunition  of  effect  (due 
to  increased  resistance),  by  lengthening  the  conducting 
wire.  Other  inclusive  experiments  in  the  same  direc- 
tion were  made  by  Fechter  in  1829,  and  Ritchie  in 
1830. 

"1833.— Prof.  Carl  Friedrich  Gauss  and  Wilhelm 
Edward  Weber  constructed  at  Gottingen  a  galvanom- 
eter telegraph  of  a  single  circuit  of  uninsulated  wire  a 
mile  and  a  half  long.  The  alphabet  of  signs  was  made 
up  of  right  and  left  deflections  of  the  needle,  observed 
by  reflections  from  a  small  mirror.  Gauss  was  the  first 
to  employ  magneto  electricity  in  telegraphs.  Weber 
added  to  the  signaling  device  a  delicate  apparatus  for 
setting  off  a  clock  alarm. 

"1836.— Prof.  C.  A.  Steinheil,  of  Munich,  undertook, 
at  the  request  of  Gauss,  the  development  of  the  ar- 
rangement above  described,  and  constructed  a  similar 
galvanometer  telegraph  line  two  miles  in  length,  intro- 
ducing considerable  improvements.  The  next  year 
Steinheil  discovered  that  the  ground  might  be  made  a 
part  of  the  circuit,  thus  dispensing  with  a  second  wire 
for  the  return  circuit. 

« 1837.— Mr.  William  Fothergill  Cooke  and  Prof. 
Charles  Wheatstone  patented  in  England  a  galvanom- 
eter or  needle  telegraph  very  similar  to  the  earlier  one 
of  Schilling,  employing  six  wires  and  five  indicating 


24  THE   ELECTRIC   TELEGRAPH  t 

needles.  An  experimental  line  a  mile  and  a  quarter 
long  was  worked  with  partial  success,  July  25 ;  and  one 
thirteen  miles  long  was  established  in  1838." 

While  these  experiments  with  the  needle  were  go- 
ing on,  the  electro-magnet  was  being  developed  and  ap- 
plied. 

1820. — The  germ  of  the  electro-magnet  was  discov- 
ered by  Arago,  who  observed  that  the  electric  current 
would  develop  magnetic  power  in  strips  of  iron  and 
steel. 

1824. — William  Sturgeon,  England,  produced  the 
true  electro-magnet,  with  its  intermittent  control  of  an 
armature. 

The  electro-magnet  of  Sturgeon  was  improved  by 
Professor  Henry  in  1828;  and  in  1829  he  exhibited  a 
larger  magnet  of  the  same  character,  tightly  wound 
with  35  feet  of  silk  covered  wire.  A  pair  of  small 
galvanic  plates,  which  could  be  dipped  into  a  tumbler 
of  diluted  acid,  was  soldered  to  the  ends  of  the  wire, 
and  the  whole  mounted  on  a  stand.  This  was  the  first 
magnetic  spool  or  bobbin.  This  invention  was  further 
improved  the  same  year,  and  in  1830  Professor  Henry, 
assisted  by  Dr.  Philip  Ten  Eyck,  constructed  an  electro- 
magnet which  lifted  750  pounds.  In  1831  he  made  one 
weighing  82 1  pounds,  which  sustained  over  a  ton.  In 
the  meantime  Professor  Henry  practically  worked  out 
the  differing  functions  of  quantity  and  intensity  mag- 
nets, and  experimentally  established  the  conditions  re- 
quired for  magnetizing  iron  at  great  distances  through 
long  conducting  wires.  This  first  made  the  electro- 
magnet available  for  telegraphic  purposes. 


ITS  BEGINNING   AND   DEVELOPMENT.  25 

1831. — The  transmission  of  signals  through  a  mile  of 
copper  bell  wire  interposed  in  a  circuit  between  a  small 
Cruickshank's  battery  and  an  intensity  magnet — a 
practical  telegraph — was  practiced  by  Professor  Henry. 

This  memorable  experimental  telegraphic  arrange- 
ment involved  three  significant  and  important  novelties. 
In  the  first  place,  it  was  the  first  electro-magnetic  tele- 
graph employing  an  "intensity"  magnet  capable  of 
being  excited  at  very  great  distances  from  a  suitable 
"intensity"  battery. 

In  the  second  place,  it  was  the  first  electro-magnetic 
telegraph  employing  the  armature  as  a  signaling  device, 
or  employing  the  attractive  power  of  the  intermittent 
magnet,  as  distinguished  from  the  directive  action  of 
the  galvanic  circuit.  That  is  to  say,  it  was,  strictly 
speaking,  the  first  magnetic  telegraph. 

In  the  third  place,  it  was  the  first  acoustic  electro- 
magnetic telegraph, 

1837. — Professor  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse  devised  a 
magneto-electric  telegraph  capable  of  transmitting  sig- 
nals through  a  circuit  of  forty  feet,  but  failed  for  longer 
distances  from  the  circumstance  that  he  used  a  quantity 
current.  His  friend,  Dr.  Gale,  made  for  him  an  inten- 
sity battery,  and  added  a  hundred  or  more  turns  to  the 
coil  of  wire  around  the  poles  of  the  magnet.  With 
these  necessary  (and  radical)  improvements  the  appa- 
ratus was  made  to  work  through  ten  miles  of  wire. 
In  applying  for  a  caveat  for  his  invention,  October  6, 
1837,  Professor  Morse  specified  six  distract  parts,  not 
one  of  which  enters  into  the  established  "  Morse  "  tele- 
graph of  to-day.  Mr.  Taylor  shows  that  Professor 


ZO  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH  ' 

Morse's  real  contribution  to  telegraphy  consists  first  in 
the  adaptation  of  the  armature  of  a  Henry  electro-mag- 
net to  the  purpose  of  a  recording  instrument ;  and 
second,  in  connection  therewith,  the  improvement  on 
the  Gauss  and  Steinheil  dual-sign  alphabets,  made 
by  employing  the  single  line  dot  and  dash  alphabet. 

In  his  general  summary  of  the  history  of  the  origin 
and  developement  of  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph, 
Mr.  Taylor  sets  down  the  leading  preparatory  investiga- 
tions and  discoveries  as  these  five  : 

1.  The  discovery  of  galvanic  electricity  by  Galvani, 
1786-1790. 

2.  The  galvanic  or  voltaic  battery  by  Volta,  1800. 

3.  The  directive  influence  of  the  galvanic  current 
on   a  magnetic  needle  by  Komagnosi,  1802,  and  by 
Hoersted,  1820. 

4.  The  galvanometer  by  Schweigger,1820  (the  parent 
of  the  needle  system). 

5.  The   electro-magnet  by   Arago    and    Sturgeon, 
1820-1825  (the  parent  of  the  magnet  system). 

The  second  half  dozen  capital  steps  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  telegraphy  were  : 

1.  Henry's  most  vital  discovery,  in  1829  and  1830, 
of    the   intensity   magnet  and    its    intimate    relation 
to  the  intensity  battery. 

2.  Gauss'    improvement,    in    1833     (or    probably 
Schilling's,    considerably     earlier),    of    reducing    the 
electric  conductors  to  a  single  circuit   by  the  ingenious 
application  of  a  dual  sign,  so  combined  as  to  produce 


ITS    BEGINNING   AND    DEVELOPMENT. 


27 


a  true  alphabet.  (The  anticipations  of  this  idea  by 
Lomond  in  1787,  Cavallo  in  1795,  and  Dyar  in  1825, 
are  not  regarded  as  practically  influential  in  the 
progress  of  telegraphy). 

3.  Weber's  discovery,  in  1833,  that  the  conducting 
wires  of  an  electric  telegraph  could  be  carried  through 
the   air,  without   insulation,  except   at  the   points   of 
support. 

4.  As  a  valuable   adjunct  to  telegraphy,  Daniell's 
invention  of  a  constant  galvanic  battery  in  1836. 

5.  Steinheil's    discovery,    in    1837,   that    a   single 
conducting  wire  is  sufficient  for  telegraphic  purposes. 

6.  Morse's  adaptation  of  the  armature  of  a  Henry 
electro-magnet   as   a  recording  instrument,  1837,  and 
the  single  line  dot  and  dash  alphabet  in  1838. 

The  earlier  needle  type  of  electro-magnetic  telegraph 
has  found  its  special  application  in  ocean  lines,  no 
element  of  the  Morse  system  entering  into  the  opera- 
tion of  submarine  cables. 

The  more  recent  telegraphic  developments  do  not 
fall  within  the  scope  of  Mr.  Taylor's  review.  A  few 
other  dates,  as  given  by  Prescott,  may  appropriately 
serve  to  complete  this  chronology. 

1861. — Reiss  discovered  that  a  vibrating  diaphragm 
could  be  actuated  by  the  voice  so  as  to  cause  the 
pitch  and  rhythm  of  vocal  sounds  to  be  transmitted 
to  a  distance  and  reproduced  by  electro-magnetism. 

1872. — Stearns  perfected  a  duplex  system,  where- 
by two  communications  could  be  simultaneously  trans- 
mitted over  one  wire. 


28  THE   ELECTRIC   TELEGRAPH. 

1874. — Edison's  quadruples  was  invented. 

1874. — Gray  invented  a  method  of  electrical  trans- 
mission, by  means  of  which  the  intensity  of  tones 
as  well  as  their  pitch  and  rhythm  could  be  re- 
produced at  a  distance  ;  and  subsequently  conceived 
the  idea  of  controlling  the  formation  of  electric  waves 
by  means  of  the  vibrations  of  a  diaphragm  capable 
of  responding  to  all  the  tones  of  the  human  voice. 

1876. — Telephone  invented. — Bell  invented  an  im- 
provement in  the  apparatus  for  the  transmission  and 
reproduction  of  articulate  speech,  in  which  magneto- 
electric  currents  were  superposed  upon  a  voltaic 
circuit,  and  actuated  an  iron  diaphragm  attached 
to  a  soft  iron  magnet.  During  the  same  year  Dolbear 
conceived  the  idea  of  using  permanent  magnets  in 
place  of  the  electro-magnets  and  battery  previously 
employed,  and  of  using  the  same  instrument  for 
both  sending  and  receiving. 

1877. — Edison's  carbon  telephone  was  brought  out. 

To  these  may  be  added  Edison's  electro-motograph, 
or  electro-chemical  telephone,  1877. 

1878. — Duplexing  of  ocean  telegraph.  1 

1879. — Cowper's  writing  telegraph. 

1880. — Field's  successful  substitution  of  dynamo- 
electricity  for  galvanic  batteries  in  telegraphing. 

In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  introduce  very  interest- 
ing matter  in  regard  to  the  early  days  of  the  electric 
telegraph,  which,  by  the  way,  began  in  this  coun- 
try in  1844,  with  one  wire  between  Baltimore  and 
Washington. 


INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH. 


INTRODUCTION    OF    THE    ELECTRIC    TELE- 
GRAPH IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Under  this  head  we  shall  introduce  matter  personal, 
biographical  and  historical;  funny  and  scientific — very 
miscellaneous,  indeed,  but  all  having  a  direct  connec- 
tion with  that  great  event  in  our  national  history — the 
introduction  of  the  electric  telegraph  into  this  country. 

THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  LINE. 

Anent  this  event,  it  is  a  matter  of  historic  record 
that  on  the  3d  of  March,  1843,  Congress  passed  a 
bill  appropriating  thirty  thousand  dollars  for  the  con- 
struction of  Professor  Morse's  experimental  line  be- 
tween Baltimore  and  Washington,  in  order  to  test 
the  practicability  of  the  invention.  The  original  model 
of  a  telegraphic  apparatus  filed  by  the  honored  in- 
ventor when  he  got  his  patent  has  been  unearthed 
from  a  lot  of  rubbish  in  the  cellar  of  the  Patent 
Office  at  Washington,  where  it  has  been  lying  for 
years.  The  clumsiness  of  the  signal  key,  as  compared 
with  the  one  of  the  present  day,  is  ridiculous.  It 
is  nearly  two  feet  long,  and  has  a  large  lump  of  lead 
at  the  furthest  end  from  the  hand,  to  throw  the  key  and 
break  the  circuit.  It  was  at  first  proposed  to  lay 
the  wires  under  ground,  inclosed  in  a  leaden  tube, 
and  the  contract  for  laying  this  tube  was  taken 
by  Mr.  F.  O.  J.  Smith,  of  Maine,  who  was  at  that 
time  editor  of  the  Portland  Farmer,  and  who  had 
previously  been — as  a  member  of  Congress,  and 


30      INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH 

chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce — largely 
instrumental  in  the  passage  of  the  appropriation. 
About  this  time  Mr.  Ezra  Cornell,  who  was  on  a 
visit  to  Maine  on  business,  called  upon  Mr.  Smith, 
who,  in  speaking  of  the  contract  which  he  had  taken 
for  laying  the  wires,  and  for  which  he  was  to  receive 
one  hundred  dollars  per  mile,  incidentally  remarked 
that,  after  a  careful  examination,  he  had  found  he  would 
lose  money  by  the  job.  Mr.  Smith  at  the  same  time 
showed  Mr.  Cornell  a  piece  of  the  pipe,  and  explained 
the  manner  of  its  construction,  the  depth  to  which 
it  was  to  be  laid,  and  the  difficulties  which  he  expected 
to  encounter  in  carrying  out  the  design.  Mr.  Cornell  at 
this  same  interview,  after  the  brief  explanation  which 
Mr.  Smith  had  given,  told  him  that  in  his  opinion 
the  pipe  could  be  laid  by  machinery  at  a  much  less  ex- 
pense than  one  hundred  dollars  per  mile,  and  would 
be  in  the  main  a  profitable  operation.  At  the  same 
time  he  sketched  on  paper  the  plan  of  a  machine  which 
he  thought  practicable.  This  led  to  the  engagement 
of  Mr  Cornell  by  Mr.  Smith  to  make  such  a  machine, 
and  he  immediately  went  to  work  and  made  patterns 
for  its  construction.  While  the  machine  was  being 
made,  Mr.  Cornell  went  to  Augusta,  Maine,  and  settled 
up  his  business,  and  then  returned  to  Portland  and 
completed  the  pipe'  machine.  Professor  Morse  was 
notified  by  Smith  in  regard  to  the  machine,  and  went 
to  Portland  to  see  it  tried.  The  trial  proved  a  success. 
Mr.  Cornell  was  employed  to  take  charge  of  laying  the 
pipe.  Under  his  hands  the  work  advanced  rapidly, 
and  he  had  laid  ten  miles  or  more  of  the  pipe  when 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  31 

Professor  Morse  discovered  that  the  insulation  was  so 
imperfect  that  the  telegraph  would  not  operate.  He 
did  not,  however,  stop  the  work  until  he  had  received 
orders  ;  which  order  came  in  the  following  singular 
manner:  When  the  evening  train  came  out  from 
Baltimore,  Professor  Morse  was  observed  to  step  from 
the  car ;  he  walked  up  to  Mr.  Cornell,  took  him 
aside,  and  said:  "Mr.  Cornell,  cannot  you  contrive  to 
stop  the  work  for  a  few  days  without  its  being  known 
that  it  is  done  on  purpose?  If  it  is  known  that  I 
ordered  its  stoppage,  the  plaguy  papers  will  find  it  out 
and  have  all  kinds  of  stories  about  it."  Mr.  Cornell, 
with  his  usual  quickness  of  discernment,  saw  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  and  told  the  professor  that  he  would 
make  it  all  right.  So  he  ordered  the  drivers  to  start 
the  team  of  eight  mules  which  set  the  machine  in 
motion,  and,  while  driving  along  at  a  lively  pace, 
in  order  to  reach  the  Relay  House,  a  distance  of  about 
twenty  rods,  before  it  was  time  to  "turn  out,"  managed 
to  tilt  the  machine  so  as  to  catch  it  under  the  point  of 
a  projecting  rock.  This  apparent  accident  so  damaged 
the  machine  as  to  render  it  useless.  The  professor 
retired  in  a  state  of  perfect  contentment,  and  the 
Baltimore  papers  on  the  following  morning  had  an 
interesting  subject  for  a  paragraph.  The  work  thus 
being  of  necessity  suspended,  Professor  Morse  con- 
vened a  grand  council  at  the  Relay  House,  composed 
of  himself,  Professor  Gale,  Dr.  Fisher,  Mr.  Vail,  and 
F.  O.  J.  Smith,  the  persons  especially  concerned  in  the 
undertaking.  After  discussing  the  matter,  they  de- 
termined upon  further  efforts  for  perfecting  the  insula- 


32      INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH 

tion.  These  failed,  and  orders  were  given  to  remove 
everything  to  Washington.  Up  to  this  time  Professor 
Morse  and  his  assistants  had  expended  twenty-two 
thousand  dollars,  and  all  in  vain.  Measures  were 
taken  to  reduce  the  expenses,  and  Mr.  Cornell  was 
appointed  assistant  superintendent,  and  took  entire 
charge  of  the  undertakir- <r.  He  no—  altered  the  de- 
sign, substituting  poles  for  the  pipe.  This  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  commencement  of  "  air  lines "  of  tele- 
graph. He  commenced  the  erection  of  the  line  be- 
tween Baltimore  and  Washington  on  poles,  and  had  it 
in  successful  operation  in  time  to  report  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  conventions  which  nominated  Henry  Clay 
and  James  K.  Polk  for  the  presidency. 

APATHY  OF  SCIENTISTS,  PRESS  AND  PUBLIC. 

Although  the  practicability  of  the  telegraph  had 
been  so  thoroughly  tested,  it  did  not  at  once  become 
popular.  A  short  line  was  erected  in  New  York  city  in 
the  spring  of  1845,  having  its  lower  office  at  112  Broad- 
way and  its  upper  office  near  Niblo's.  The  resources  of 
the  company  had  been  entirely  exhausted,  so  that 
they  were  unable  to  pay  Mr.  Cornell  for  his  ser- 
vices, and  he  was  directed  to  charge  visitors  twenty 
five  cents  for  admission,  so  as  to  raise  the  funds  requisite 
to  defray  expenses.  Yet  sufficient  interest  was  not 
shown  by  the  community  even  to  support  Mr.  Cornell 
and  his  assistant.  Even  the  New  York  press  was  3p 
posed  to  the  telegraphic  project.  The  proprietor  of 
the  New  York  Herald — think  of  the  astute  elder  Ben- 
nett making  such  a  big  blunder — when  called  upon  by 
Mr.  Cornell  and  requested  to  say  a  good  word  in 


IN    THE   UNITED    STATES.  33 

his  favor,  emphatically  refused,  stating  distinctly  that 
it  would  be  greatly  to  his  disadvantage  should  the 
telegraph  succeed.  Stranger  still  it  is  that  many  of 
those  veiy  men  who  would  be  expected  to  be  entirely 
in  favor  of  the  undertaking,  namely,  men  of  scientific 
pursuits,  stood  aloof  and  declined  to  endorse  it.  In 
order  to  put  up  the-  line  in  the  most  economical  man- 
ner, Mr.  Cornell  desired  to  attach  the  wires  to  the  city 
buildings  which  lined  its  course.  Many  house-owners 
objected,  alleging  that  it  would  invalidate  their  insur- 
ance policies  by  increasing  the  risk  of  their,  buildings 
being  sti  ck  by  lightning.  Mr.  Cornell  cited  the 
theory  of  the  lightning  rod  as  demonstrated  by  Frank- 
lin, and  sho  red  that  the  telegraphic  wire  would  add 
safety  to  their  buildings.  Some  persons  still  refused, 
but  informed  him  that  could  he  procure  a  certificate 
from  Professor  Benwick,  then  connected  with  Columbia 
College,  to  the  effect  that  the  wires  would  not  increase 
the  risk  of  their  buildings,  they  would  allow  him  to 
attach  his  wires.  Mr.  Cornell  thought  the  obtaining 
of  such  a  certificate  a  very  easy  matter,  and  certainly 
all  scientific  men  were  agreed  upon  the  Franklin  theory. 
He  therefore  posted  off  to  Columbia  College,  saw  the 
distinguisned  savan,  stated  his  errand,  and  requested 
the  certificate,  saying  it  would  be  doing  Professor 
Morse  a  great  favor.  To  his  utter  consternation  the 
learned  professor  replied :  "  No,  I  cannot  do  that," 
alleging  that  "the  wires  would  increase  the  risk  of  the 
buildings  being  struck  by  lightning."  Mr.  Cornell  wa.s 
obliged  to  go  into  an  elaborate  discussion  of  the  Frank- 
lin theory  of  the  lightning-rod,  until  the  professor  con- 
3 


34      INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH 

fessed  himself  in  error,  and  prepared  the  desired  certi- 
ficate, for  which  opinion  he  charged  him  twenty-five 
dollars.  This  certificate  enabled  Mr.  Cornell  to  carry 
out  his  plans. 

DESCRIPTION   OF    THE    INSTRUMENTS   FIRST   USED. 

The  apparatus  used  on  the  original  line  between 
Baltimore  and  Washington  in  1844  would  be  some- 
thing of  a  curiosity  at  the  present  time.  The  relay 
magnets  weighed  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  pounds, 
and  it  required  two  men  to  handle  one  of  them  if  it 
became  necessary  to  move  it.  The  coils  were  about 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  were  composed  of  No. 
16  copper  wire  insulated  with  cotton  thread.  It  was 
supposed  at  that  time  to  be  indispensably  necessary 
that  the  wire  surrounding  the  magnets  should  be 
the  same  size  as  the  wire  of  the  line.  Professor  Charles 
Grafton  Page,  a  short  time  afterward,  devised  a  mag- 
net of  considerably  less  size,  which  was  used  in  the 
lines  built  during  the  years  1845  and  1846.  Professor 
Morse,  while  in  France  in  the  year  1845,  obtained 
some  electro-magnets  of  about  the  same  size  of  those 
now  in  use,  which  he  brought  to  this  country  and 
made  use  of  in  working  the'  telegraph.  The  first 
small  relay  magnet  made  in  this  country  was  con- 
structed, we  believe,  by  Clark  of  Philadelphia  in  1845 
or  1846,  and  in  its  general  form  was  very  similar  to 
those  now  in  use. 

An  interesting  relic  of  the  early  days  of  telegraphy 
has  been  discovered  at  Morristown,  N.  J.  It  is  the 
first  instrument  by  which  messages  were  received  and 
sent  by  aid  of  the  electric  current,  and  was  one  of  two 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  35 

takeu  from  Morristown  by  Morse  and  Vail — Morse 
using  one  at  "Washington,  and  Vail  the  other  at  Balti- 
more. The  first  message  sent  was  the  now  well-known 
"What  has  God  wrought  ?"  which  Morse  transmitted 
to  Vail ;  but  the  first  public  message  was  the  news  of 
the  nomination  of  Polk  to  the  presidency  by  the 
Baltimore  convention  of  1844,  sent  by  Vail  to 
Morse. 

These  instruments  were  in  constant  use  for  six  years, 
when  Mr.  Vail,  returning  to  Morristown,  brought  his 
with  him,  and  where  it  has  still  remained  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  family.  Mr.  Vail  dying  soon  after,  his 
instrument  was  specially  left  by  a  clause  in  his 
will  to  his  eldest  son  as  an  heirloom,  while  parts 
of  instruments  made  during  the  experimental  trials 
were  left  to  Professor  Morse,  with  a  request  that 
he  would  give  them  at  some  future  day  to  the  New 
Jersey  Historical  Society.  The  old  instrument  works 
as  well  as  when  first  made.  Its  dimensions  are  sixteen 
inches  in  length,  seven  inches  in  height,  six  inches 
wide,  with  two  magnets  of  three  inches  diameter.  The 
paper  used  was  two  and  a  half  inches  in  width,  three 
pens  being  proposed  to  be  used.  The  weight  of  the 
instrument  is  twenty  pounds. 

"GREAT  OAKS  FROM  LITTLE  ACORNS  GROW." 

In  the  year  1850,  Mr.  Alfred  Vail,  of  whom  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  say  more  by  and  by,  wrote  a  manu- 
script giving  an  account  of  the  receipts  of  the  tele- 
graph at  the  Washington  office  during  the  first  four 


36  ISTHOLiUOTlON    OF    THE    ELECTRIC    TELEGRAPH 

days  of  its  operation  after  it  had  been  taken  under  the 
patronage  of  the  government.  The  details  form  a 
forcible  illustration  of  the  truth  of  the  motto  at  the 
head  of  this  paragraph.  Mr.  Vail's  manuscript  reads 
as  follows: 

MR.  VAIL'S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  FIRST  WEEK  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

"  The  telegraph  was  first  put  in  operation  between 
Washington  and  Baltimore  in  the  spring  of  1844,  and 
was  shown  without  charge  until  April  1,  1845.  Con- 
gress, during  the  session  of  1844—45,  made  an  appro- 
priation of  $8,000  to  keep  it  in  operation  during  the 
year,  placing  it,  at  the  same  time,  under  the  supervision 
of  the  postmaster-general.  He,  at  the  close  of  the  ses- 
sion, ordered  a  tariff  of  charges  of  one  cent  for  every 
four  characters  made  by  or  through  the  telegraph, 
appointing  also  the  operators  of  the  line — Mr  Vail  for 
the  Washington  station,  and  Mr.  H.  J.  Roberts  for  Bal- 
timore. 

"This  new  order  of  things  commenced  on  April  1, 
1845,  and  the  object  was  to  test  the  profitableness  of 
the  enterprise.  The  receipts  for  April  1-4,  inclusive, 
were  as  follows: 

"It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Mr.  Polk  had  just 
been  inaugurated,  and,  as  is  always  the  case  on  the  ad- 
vent of  a  new  administration,  the  city  was  filled  with 
persons  seeking  for  office.  A  gentleman  of  Virginia,  who 
stated  that  to  be  his  errand  to  the  city,  came  to  the 
office  of  the  telegraph  on  the  1st  day  of  April,  and  de- 
sired to  see  its  operation.  The  oath  of  office  being 


IN   THE   UlttTED   STATES.  37 

fresh  in  the  mind  of  the  operator,  and  he  being  deter- 
mined to  fulfil  it  to  the  letter,  the  gentleman  was  told 
of  the  rates  of  charges,  and  that  he  could  see  its  oper- 
ation by  sending  his  name  to  Baltimore  and  having  it 
sent  back,  at  the  rate  of  four  letters  or  figures  for  a 
cent,  or  he  might  ask  Baltimore  regarding  the  weather, 
etc.  This  he  refused  to  do,  and  coaxed,  argued  and 
threatened.  He  said  there  could  be  no  harm  in  show- 
ing him  its  operation,  as  that  was  all  he  wanted.  He 
was  told  of  the  oath  just  taken  by  the  incumbent,  and 
of  his  intention  to  keep  it  faithfully ;  and  that,  if  it  was 
shown  to  him  by  the  passage  of  a  communication  gratui- 
tously, it  would  be  in  violation  of  his  oath  of  office. 
He  stated  he  had  no  change.  In  reply,  he  was  told  that 
if  he  would  call  upon  the  postmaster-general  and  ob- 
tain his  consent  that  the  operation  should  be  shown 
him  gratis,  the  operator  would  cheerfully  comply  to  al- 
most any  extent.  He  stated  in  reply  that  he  knew  the 
postmaster-general,  and  had  considerable  influence  with 
some  of  the  officers  of  the  government,  and  that  he 
(the  operator)  had  better  show  it  to  him  at  once,  inti- 
mating that  he  might  be  subjected  to  some  peril  by  re- 
fusing. He  was  told  that  no  regard  would  be  paid  to 
the  extent  of  his  influence,  be  it  great  or  little;  that  he 
did  not  think  he  was  at  liberty  to  use  the  property  of 
the  government  for  individual  benefit  when  under  oath 
to  exact  pay,  and  cited  the  rules  of  the  post-office  in 
relation  to  the  carriage  of  letters,  but  that  he  was  wil- 
ling to  do  as  directed  by  the  postmaster -general  (Hon. 
Cave  Johnson).  The  discussion  lasted  almost  an  hour, 
when  the  gentleman  left  the  office  in  no  pleasant  mood. 


88  INTRODUCTION    OF    THE   ELEOTKIC    TELEGRAPH 

"This  was  the  patronage  received  by  the  Washington 
office  on  the  1st,  2nd,  and  3rd  of  April.  On  the  4th 
the  same  gentleman  turned  up  again,  and  repeated  some 
of  his  former  arguments  He  was  asked  if  he  had 
seen  the  postmaster-general,  and  obtained  his  consent 
to  his  request,  to  which  he  replied  he  had  not  After 
considerable  discussion,  which  was  rather  amusing  than 
vexatious,  he  said  that  he  had  nothing  less  than  a  twen 
ty-dollar  bill  and  one  cent,  all  of  which  he  pulled  out  of 
his  breeches  pocket.  He  was  told  that  he  could  have  a 
cent's  worth  of  telegraphing,  if  that  would  answer,  to 
which  he  agreed.  After  his  many  mawjeuvres  and  long 
agony  the  gentleman  was  finally  gratified  in  the  follow 
ing  manner:  Washington  asked  Baltimore  4.  which 
meant,  in  the  list  of  signals,  '  What  time  is  it ?  Balti 
more  replied  1,  which  meant  '1  o  clock  The  amount 
of  the  operation  was  one  character  each  way.  making 
two  in  all,  which,  at  the  rate  of  four  for  a  coot,  would 
amount  to  half  a  cent  exactly.  He  laid  down  his  cent, 
but  was  told  that  half  a  cent  would  suffice,  if  he 
could  produce  the  change.  This  he  declined  to  do,  and 
gave  the  whole  cent,  after  which,  being  satisfied,  he  left 
the  office. 

"Such  was  the  income  of  the  Washington  office  for 
the  first  four  days  of  April,  1845.  On  the  5th  twelve 
and  a  half  cents  were  received.  The  6th  was  the  Sab- 
bath. On  the  7th  the  receipts  ran  up  to  sixty  cents; 
on  the  8th  to  $1.32;  on  the  9th  to  $1.04.  It  is  worthy 
of  remark,"  concludes  Mr.  Vail,  "that  more  business 
was  done  by  the  merchants  after  the  tariff  was  laid  than 
when  the  service  was  gratuitous." 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  89 

The  humors  of  the  telegraph  form  a  fruitful  subject. 
Numerous  good  stories  are  constantly  cropping  out  to 
vary  and  relieve  the  routine  of  telegraphic  operations. 
Many  of  these  get  into  the  public  prints,  and  increase 
that  capital  of  mirthful  yarns  which  is  an  important 
means  of  health  to  this  over-worked  generation.  Upon 
comparing  the  best  of  these  with  those  that  are  told  of 
the  funny  blunders  and  incidents  accompanying  the  be- 
ginning of  telegraphic  operations,  the  writer  is  of  the 
opinion  that  the  latter  are  certainly  the  more  side  split- 
ting Take  for  instance  that  of  the  old  lady  who  wrote 
a  letter  to  headquarters  asking  them  to  remove  the 
wires  which  had  been  attached  to  her  chimney,  and 
said:  "I  must  request  you  to  remove  your  wires  from 
my  chimney  immediately.  The  noise  the  message 
makes  going  along  the  wires  is  sometimes  awful,  and 
sometimes — I  suppose  when  the  operator  has  a  hard 
word  to  spell — I  declare  it  quite  shakes  the  house." 

Another  good  old  soul,  with  due  respect  for  the  pro- 
prieties, on  seeing  some  telegraph  wire  while  taking 
her  first  ride  by  rail,  was  heard  to  remark:  "Well,  I 
have  often  said  they  would  never  git  me  into  the  rail- 
road cars,  but  I  know  they  will  never  git  me  on  to  them 
telegraft  wires." 

When  the  telegraph  was  being  introduced  into  a 
populous  district  of  Massachusetts,  hardly  five  minutes 
had  elapsed  after  the  erection  of  one  of  the  poles,  be- 
fore some  enterprising  genius  posted  a  bill  thereon,  and 
soon  two  street  Arabs  were  attracted  to  the  spot,  when 
the  following  dialogue  ensued: 

"I   say,   Mickey,  what  an  invintion  the   telegraph 


40      INTRODUCTION  OP  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH 

"  Yes,  an'  here's  a  dispatch  broke  out  on  the  post 
a'ready." 

When  the  telegraph  was  first  put  in  operation  be- 
tween Portland  and  Boston,  a  countryman  drove  a  flock 
of  turkeys  to  the  former  place  for  a  market,  but  not 
finding  so  good  a  sale  as  he  anticipated,  he  inquired  of 
some  by-standers  their  price  in  Boston.  Some  wag  of 
a  fellow  advised  him  to  step  into  the  telegraph  office. 
Jonathan  entered  and  put  the  all-important  question  to 
the  operator,  who  immediately  telegraphed  to  Boston, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  received  an  answer  to  his  inquiry, 
and  informed  his  customer.  Jonathan  looked  at  the 
operator  with  a  sly  wink  and  exclaimed:  "You  can't 
gum  it  over  me."  He  was  about  leaving  the  office  when 
the  operator  told  him  that  there  were  nine  shillings  to 
pay.  Jonathan  bristled  up  and  burst  forth  in  a  rage : 
"You  can't  gum  it  over  ma  That  old  tick-box 
of  yourn  hain't  <  been  out  of  this  room  since  I've  been 
here." 

Notwithstanding  the  severest  kind  of  temptation,  the 
humor  reserved  for  this  place  must  be  cut  down  to  one 
more  story,  told  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  J.  B.  Stearns, 
who  afterward  invented  the  Stearns  system  of  duplex 
telegraphing,  referred  to  in  last  chapter.  Mr.  Stearns 
at  that  time  officiated  as  one  of  the  operators  in  the 
now  long  ago  when  the  Boston  fire  alarm  was  a  new 
institution.  One  summer  night  when  he  was  on  duty, 
he  was  startled  by  hearing  a  church  bell  in  South  Bos 
ton,  which  was  connected  with  one  of  the  "  alarm  cir- 
cuits," break  forth  at  a  most  unseemly  hour  with  a  con- 
tinuous "  ding  doiig,  ding-dong,"  which  bade  fail-  to 


IK   THE   UNITED    STATES.  41 

awaken  every  slumbering  inhabitant  within  the  radius 
of  a  mile.  As  the  striker  of  the  bell  was  driven  by 
water  power,  which  was  merely  controUed  by  the  elec- 
tric current,  Stearns  was  fully  aware  of  the  fact  that  the 
armature  of  the  magnet  had  "  stuck,"  or  otherwise  got 
out  of  gear,  and  that  the  racket  would  probably  con- 
tinue until  some  one  went  over  there  and  adjusted  it,  or 
else  until  the  supply  of  Cochituate  water  failed — a 
slightly  improbable  contingency.  Of  course  he  couldn't 
leave  his  post,  and  therefore  was  obliged  to  sit  and 
listen  to  the  concert,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  he 
probably  enjoyed  nearly  as  well  as  the  citizens  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  performance.  Stearns, 
however,  being  a  gentleman  of  resources,  was  not  to  be 
foiled  so  easily.  A  happy  thought  finally  struck  him. 
He  would  reverse  the  battery  on  that  circuit,  which 
would  doubtless  release  the  "stuck"  armature,  and  re- 
store quiet  to  the  distracted  inhabitants,  who  by  this 
time  were  doubtless  beginning  to  get  mad,  and  revile 
the  fire  alarm  and  the  individuals  connected  therewith 
in  a  highly  improper  manner.  The  wires  were  changed, 
and  the  clamor  instantaneously  ceased.  On  the  follow- 
ing morning,  in  the  serene  consciousness  of  a  good 
deed  well  performed,  Stearns  duly  reported  the  inci 
dent  to  his  chief,  Mr.  Moses  G.  Farmer,  who  did  Dot 
hesitate  to  bestow  the  praise  so  justly  due  to  the  inge 
nuity  of  his  subordinate,  but  suggested  that  it  might 
also  be  well  to  examine  the  defective  striker,  and,  if 
need  be,  adjust  it,  so  as  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
another  similar  accident.  Singular  to  state,  when  Stearns 
arrived  at  the  scene  of  the  previous  night's  disturbance 


42      INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH 

he  found  that  the  door  of  the  church,  and  also  the  bel- 
fry, had  been  stove  in  with  an  axe,  and  the  hammer  of 
the  bell  effectually  tied  up  by  a  strong  rope.  Whether 
this  result  was,  as  a  whole,  brought  about  merely  by 
the  reversal  of  that  battery  still  remains  an  open  ques- 
tion. It  is  understood,  however,  that  even  Stearns  him- 
self has  always  entertained  some  doubt  of  it. 

"HONOR  TO  WHOM  HONOR  is  DUE." 

Clamors  are  still  made  by  the  respective  friends  of 
those  who  aided  in  bringing  the  telegraph  to  perfection, 
for  the  preference  to  be  given  to  a  certain  one  out  of 
several  names  conspicuous  among  the  leaders  in,  possi- 
bly, this  highest  achievement  of  human  ingenuity. 


England  has  lately  witnessed  the  conferring  of  the 
honor  of  knighthood  upon  Mr.  Francis  Ronalds,  for 
whom  no  meaner  an  authority  than  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette 
claims  that  he  "  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  origi- 
nator of  our  telegraph  system.  He  was  the  very  first," 
it  adds,  "  either  in  England  or  abroad,  to  invent  an  elec- 
tric telegraph  so  constructed  as  to  be  capable  of  exten- 
sive practical  application,  and  so  far  back  as  1823  he 
fully  developed  its  principle  and  mode  of  action.  Still 
earlier,  namely,  in  1816,  he  had  constructed  a  working 
electric  telegraph,  and  on  offering  it  to  the  then  gov- 
ernment, received  an  answer  which  can  never  be  too 
often  cited  as  an  illustration  of  official  complacency : 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  48 

*  Telegraphs  of  any  kind  are  now  wholly  unnecessary, 
and  no  other  than  the  one  now  in  use  will  be  adopted.' 
Nothing  daunted  by  this  apathy,  Mr.  Ronalds  matured 
his  invention,  and  in  1823  published  a  '  Description  of 
an  Electric  Telegraph,  and  of  some  other  Electrical  Ap 
paratus.'  Mr.  Ronalds  was  too  far  ahead  of  his  time, 
and  too  purely  a  man  of  science,  to  secure  a  hearing  foi 
his  discovery  in  those  early  days,  and  it  was  left  to 
others  to  mature  his  idea,  and  to  establish  the  system 
which  his  prophetic  eye  had  foreseen  would  one  day 
transform  the  world.  It  was  not  till  1837,  fourteen 
years  after  Mr.  Ronalds'  pamphlet,  that  Messrs.  Cooke 
and  Wheatstone  took  out  their  first  patent.  The  science 
and  practical  skill  of  these  and  other  eminent  electri 
cians  have  brought  electric  communication  to  its  pres- 
ent state;  but  the  great  fact  remains  that  Mr.  Ronalds 
was  the  first  to  demonstrate  practically  the  principle 
which  they  have  developed." 


In  our  own  country,  Morse  has  been,  as  is  usual  in 
such  disputes,  both  unduly  praised  and  undervalued  on 
account  of  his  services  to  the  public. 

Readers  of  the  foregoing  matter,  particularly  the 
concluding  portion  of  an  earlier  chapter  and  the  begin 
ning  of  this,  are  able,  it  is  believed,  to  form  a  clear  con 
ception  of  what  he  did,  stated  as  matters  of  fact,  with- 
out exaggeration  or  depreciation.  In  the  opinion  of 
the  writer,  the  public  honors  paid  Morse,  notably  in  the 
erection  of  his  statue  in  Central  Park,  have  in  no  wise 


44  INTEODUOTION    OF   THE   ELECTEIC    TELEGRAPH 

exceeded  his  merits ;  but  there  may  be  room,  he  thinks, 
for  the  more  emphatic  recognition  of  services  rendered 
by  gentlemen  associated  with  him  in  the  introduction 
of  the  same  wonderful  improvement. 


For  the  purpose  of  doing  justice  to  a  name  which 
cannot  be  held  in  too  great  honor,  it  is  but  right  to  ap- 
pend to  these  observations  a  summarized  statement  of 
what  Professor  Henry  did  toward  the  development  of 
the  telegraph.  His  improvement  upon  Sturgeon's  elec- 
tro-magnet "consisted  in  insulating  the  conducting  wire 
itself,  instead  of  the  rod  to  be  magnetized,  and  cover- 
ing the  whole  surface  of  the  iron  with  a  series  of  coils, 
in  close  contact.  Henry's  magnet  was  described  in  Sil 
liman's  Journal  in  1831 ;  and,  in  1832,  a  mechanical  ar- 
rangement was  put  up  in  the  Albany  Academy  for  making 
signals  and  sounding  a  bell  through  a  wire  more  than  a 
mile  in  length.  Previous  to  Professor  Henry  s  invest! 
gations  the  means  of  developing  magnetism  in  soft,  iron 
were  imperfectly  understood,  and  no  electro- magnet, 
applicable  to  the  telegraph,  was  known  The  particu- 
lar form  of  battery  adapted  to  project  the  current 
through  a  long  conductor  was  first  pointed  out  by 
Henry,  and  he  was  the  first  to  magnetize  a  piece  of  iron 
at  a  distance,  and  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  of  the  ap 
plicability  of  the  experiment  to  the  telegraph  The 
principles  developed  by  him  were  applied  to  render  the 
various  machines  invented  by  Gauss,  Weber,  Steinheil, 
"Wheatstone  <uid  Morse  effective  at  a  distance.  The 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  45 

galvanometer  now  employed  for  transmitting  messages 
by  the  Atlantic  cable,  is  about  as  close  an  imitation  of 
tlie  apparatus  devised  by  Henry  for  ringing  a  bell,  in 
the  Albany  Academy  in  1832,  as  the  different  circum- 
stances of  the  cases  require:  and  the  electro-magnet, 
now  used  for  the  telegraph  all  over  the  world,  is  the 
one  invented  and  described  by  Henry  in  1831.  Whether 
the  instrument  used  be  a  semaphore — that  is,  carrying 
evanescent  signals,  or  a  telegraph  making  a  permanent 
record — the  engine  for  driving  the  works  by  aid  of  the 
battery  is  the  electro-magnet  invented  by  Professor 
Henry  The  philosopher  who  discovered  the  scientific 
principles  upon  which  the  electro-magnet  is  founded, 
and  who  invented  the  form  of  apparatus  best  adapted 
to  demonstrate  these  principles,  must  be  regarded  by 
the  whole  world  as  having  made  the  chief  contribution 
toward  the  application  of  electro-magnetism  to  the  va- 
rious wants  of  man  This  philosopher  was  Joseph 
Henry,  and  to  him  was  accorded  the  homage  of  the 
whole  scientific  world  for  his  magnificent  researches." 
So  speaks  the  Scientific  American  in  an  article  whose 
principal  points  we  hereby  gladly  assist  to  preserve. 


VAIL. 


Not  long  ago  Cincinnati  brought  to  light  a  volume  of 
nearly  eierht  hundred  pages,  entitled-  "Up  the  Heights 
of  Fame  and  Fortune,  and  the  Routes  Taken  by  the 
Climbers  to  become  Men  of  Mark,"  containing,  among 
much  interesting  matter,  notices  of  Professor  Morse  and 


46  INTRODUCTION    OF   THE   ELECTKIC  TELEGRAPH. 

his  associate,  Alfred  Vail.  To  the  latter  is  ascribe"  the 
invention  of  the  first  available  telegraph  instrument. 
Mr  Vail  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1807,  and  early 
displayed  great  mechanical  ingenuity.  While  a  student 
'under  Prof.  Morse  at  the  New  York  University,  in  1835, 
he  saw  the  latter's  first  rude  machine,  and,  by  virtue 
of  engaging  to  devote  his  personal  services  and  skill  to- 
ward perfecting  the  invention,  became  an  owner  of  one- 
eighth  of  the  patent.  He  also  offered  Prof.  Morse 
much  needed  pecuniary  aid.  In  1853  the  professor 
said  that  to  the  joint  liberality  of  Vail's  father  and 
brother,  "  but  especially  to  Alfred's  attention  and  skill 
ard  faith,"  was  due  the  success  of  his  early  endeavors 
to  bring  the  telegraph  before  the  public.  On  the  pas- 
sage of  the  telegraph  bill  in  1843  Alfred  was  appointed 
one  of  Mr.  Morse's  assistants. 

Having  stated  these  biographical  facts,  the  writer  of 
the  book  we  have  referred  to,  says: 

"The  Morse  machine  of  1836  passed  into  Vail's  hands 
in  1837,  for  an  entire  mechanical  reconstruction  through- 
out— to  speak  a  language  not  entirely  unknown  to  the 
first  machine,  but  tc  perform  entirely  new  functions, 
and  to  produce  an  entirely  new  system  of  signs  and 
letters  which  the  first  by  its  structure  was  physically 
unable  of  being  made  to  speak.  Alfred  Vail  invented 
the  first  combination  of  the  horizontal  lever  motion  to 
actuate  a  pen,  pencil  or  style,  and  the  entirely  new  tele- 
graphic alphabet  of  dots,  spaces  and  marks,  and  he  did 
so  prior  to  September,  1837,  the  month  when  the  old 


IN   THE   UNITED    STATES.  47 

instrument  passed  into  his  hands  for  reconstruction. 
His  more  perfect  invention  of  a  steel  style  upon  a  lever, 
which  could  strike  into  the  paper  as  it  was  drawn  on- 
ward over  a  ground  roller,  and  emboss  upon  it  the 
same  alphabetic  characters,  was  not  invented  until 
1844,  about  the  time  the  first  line  of  telegraph  began  to 
operate  between  Baltimore  and  Washington.  This  in- 
strument, somewhat  transformed,  still  holds  its  place 
as  practically  the  best  ever  invented." 

He  then  quotes  extensively  from  the  correspondence 
between  Professors  Morse  and  Henry,  and  reproduces  a 
plain-spoken  letter  from  Vail,  to  sho^  why  he  did  not 
urge  his  claims  to  the  credit  of  the  invention.  This 
letter  is  deemed  of  so  much  importance  by  the  publish- 
ers that  they  have,  given  it  in  jTthographic  fac-simile. 
It  is  as  follows: 

"  The  lever  and  roller  were  invented  by  me,  in  the 
sixth  story  of  the  New  York  Observer  office,  in  1844 
before  we  put  up  the  telegraph  line  between  Washing  • 
ton  and  Baltimore,  and  this  combination  has  beer  al- 
ways used  in  Morse's  instrument.  I  am  the  sole  and 
only  inventor  of  this  mode  of  telegraph  embossed  writ- 
ing. Professor  Morse  gave  me  no  clue  to  it,  nor  did 
any  one  else,  and  I  have  not  asserted  publicly  my  right 
as  first  and  sole  inventor  because  I  wished  to  preserve 
the  peaceful  unity  of  the  invention,  and  because  I  could 
not,  according  to  my  contract  with  Professor  Morse, 
have  got  a  patent  for  it. 

"  ALFRED  VAIL." 


48     INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH 

As  early  as  1847  Prof.  Morse  urged  Mr.  Vail  to  sell 
to  him  his  interest  in  the  telegraph  for  $15,000,  but  he 
refused.  He  died  in  January,  1859.  Amos  Kendall,  a 
friend  of  both  parties,  said:  "If  justice  be  done,  the 
name  of  Alfred  Vail  will  forever  stand  associated  with 
that  of  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  in  the  history  of  the  in- 
vention and  introduction  into  public  use  of  the  electro- 
magnetic telegraph." 


A  CLASS  WHOSE  SERVICES  SHOULD  NOT  BE  OVERLOOKED. 

In  giving  "  honor  to  whom  honor  is  due,"  we  must 
not  overlook  the  claim  of  the  laborer  for  the  recognition 
of  his  indispensable  services  in  making  the  telegraph 
a  public  convenience.  A  young  Irishman,  a  member 
of  a  debating  society  in  Geneva,  New  York,  may  be 
quoted  as  having  done  good  service  to  his  class  by  his 
emphatic  and  characteristically  "bulling"  method  of 
making  his  claim.  At  a  recent  meeting  of  his  society  the 
subject  of  discussion  was:  "  Which  is  of  the  most  bene- 
fit to  the  country — the  mechanic  or  the  laborer?"  One 
young  man  took  the  side  of  the  mechanic,  and  expatiat- 
ed at  great  length.  Among  a  multitude  of  other  things, 
he  claimed  that  mechanics  made  and  laid  the  Atlantic 
cable,  and  sat  down  amid  loud  applause.  For  a  few 
minutes  it  looked  as  if  there  was  no  one  bold  enough 
to  challenge  his  conclusion.  At  length  a  laborer  came 
forward  and  said  that  he  had  a  few  words  to  say  on  the 
subject.  He  was  willing  to  admit  that  the  mechanic 
had  made  and  laid  the  Atlantic  cable;  but,  exclaimed 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  49 

he,  smiting  the  table  with  a  fist  about  the  size  of  a 
twenty-three  pound  ham,  and  looking  around  with  an 
air  of  triumph  upon  the  audience,  who  were  terrified 
at  seeing  the  table  sink  to  the  floor  under  the  force  of 
his  ponderous  blow:  "Be  jabers,  who  dug  the  post 
holes?" 


60  OPEKATOBS   AND    MESSENGERS. 


A  CHAPTEE  ABOUT  OPERATORS  AND  MES- 
SENGEES. 

The  electric  telegraph  has  created  a  new  industry,  in 
its  nature  pleasantly  intermingling  manual  and  mental 
operations,  not  severe,  but  requiring  close  attention; 
educational  of  the  observation  and  judgment,  and 
affording  scope  to  the  ambitious  for  remunerative  pro- 
motion. Moreover,  it  gives  employment  to  women  as 
well  as  men,  and  thus  assists  in  the  practical  solution 
of  the  difficult  question :  What  must  society  do  with  the 
capable  and  intelligent  female  population  who  cannot 
marry,  for  the  very  sufficient  reason,  among  others,  that 
there  are  not  enough  men  to  mate  every  one  of  them? 
The  army  of  bright  boys  employed  as  messengers  must 
not  be  lost  sight  of  here.  These  earn  their  living  in  a 
manner  which  gives  them  enough  physical  and  not  too 
great  mental  exercise ;  as  desirable  as  any,  in  short,  for 
quick  and  growing  boys,  many  of  whom  themselves 
subsequently  become  professional  operators,  or,  if  not, 
are  at  least  prepared,  by  their  apprenticeship  in  the 
telegraph  office,  for  other  useful  employment. 

THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE  A  SCHOOL  FOR  THE  STUDY  OF  HUMAN 
NATURE. 

While,  in  common  with  all  other  occupations,  that  of 
the  telegraph  operator  is  one  of  detail  and  routine,  it 
probably  affords  more  than  any  other,  in  the  variety  of 
people  requiring  his  assistance,  and  the  diverse  char- 


OPERATORS  AND  MESSENGERS.  61 

acter  of  messages  received  and  sent,  matter  of  amuse- 
ment, information,  thought  and  reflection.  The  tele- 
graph office  is  a  school  for  the  study  of  human  nature, 
of  the  multifarious  occasions  of  business,  the  domestic 
and  social  relations,  and  politics,  and  the  mental  and 
emotional  operations  called  out  thereby.  In  the  words 
of  a  writer  whose  name  we  regret  to  be  unable  to  give: 
"  The  telegrapher's  window  is  an  eye  through  which  the 
operator  looks  upon  the  world.  Before  it  passes  in  a 
single  day  more  of  the  very  wine  of  human  experience 
than  one  could  observe  in  a  whole  decade  of  European 
travel.  The  business  man,  brisk,  keen  and  active,  leers  at 
him  through  that  window;  the  burglar,  bold  and  skill- 
ful, sends  his  telegram  in  cipher  to  a  confederate;  and 
the  widow,  in  weeds,  sends  to  her  friends  the  mournful 
sentences:  'Charley  is  dead.  Come  to  me!'  The  tele- 
grapher receives  the  communication  respectfully,  duly 
marks  it  with  some  hieroglyphic  signs,  and  speedily  the 
electric  soul  of  the  batteiy  utters,  a  thousand  miles 
away:  'Charley  is  dead.  Come  to  me !'  It  may  be  to  a 
mother,  to  a  father,  or  to  a  brother;  but  it  carries  a 
pressing  request,  and  to-morrow,  or  the  day  after,  the 
individual  to  whom  the  message  is  addressed  is  in  New 
York.  Or  it  may  be  that  the  father,  or  mother,  or  sis- 
ter, or  brother,  cannot  leave  home;  and  then  comes 
back  the  sorrowful  answer:  '  Business  is  pressing;  will 
come  as  soon  as  I  can.'  And  the  widow  weeps  alone 
with  her  dead.. 

"  Curious  messages  in  curious  handwriting  are  handed 
to  him  through  the  window — telegrams  with  bad  spell- 
ing, and  telegrams  with  bad  grammar;  telegrams  that 


O2  OPERATORS  AND  MES8ENGEBS. 

a  hieroglyphicist,  who  may  have  delved  for  years  amid 
the  mummy-cases  of  Egypt,  could  never  unriddle;  and 
these  last  are  handed  back  with  a  suave  request  to  read 
and  interpret. 

"There  are  telegrams  in  cramped,  unnatural  hand, 
and  telegrams  in  the  round,  fanciful  hand  of  the  writ- 
ing-master; telegrams  with  capitals  where  they  should 
not  be,  and  telegrams  with  no  caps '  at  all — but  very 
few  with  'caps'  where  they  should  be;  telegrams  of 
laborious  pomposity  from  venerable  professors,  and 
telegrams  curt  and  brief  and  epigrammatic,  from  those 
who  know  how  to  save  a  penny  at  the  expense  of  per- 
spicuity; in  short,  there  are  telegrams  of  all  sorts — not 
excepting  dead-head  telegrams,  of  which  some  are  sent 
and  some  are  not  sent,  according  to  the  claims  of  the 
individual  to  be  considered  a  dead-head." 

CONSCIENTIOUS  CARE  GIVEN  TO  HAVING  MESSAGES  DELIVERED. 

Operators,  as  a  class  of  public  servants,  are  among 
the  worthiest.  Outsiders  know  little  or  nothing  of  the 
pains  sometimes  taken,  without  request  or  remuneration, 
to  insure  the  delivery  of  dispatches  incorrectly  address- 
ed. This  is  mentioned  only  as  an  example  of  the  con- 
scientious care  given  to  work  which  comes  before  them, 
in  many  casss  whero  ii  strict  justice,  it  migl.t  be  7a'd 
aside  without  prejudice  to  the  operator's  interests  with 
relation  to  his  employer,  as  being  in  accordance  with 
the  prescribed  routine  of  the  office. 

THE  LITERATURE  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

The  operators  of  the  United  States  are  justly  proud  of 


their  professional  skill,and  generously  assist  the  means  of 
literary  communication  afforded  them  in  the  books  and 
papers  prepared  for  their  use  and  recreation.  These  evi- 
dence a  very  considerable  degree  of  literary  merit,  and 
there  is  an  intelligent  demand  for  mo  e  which  reflects 
credit  upon  the  craft.  The  literature  of  the  telegraph 
is  a  most  interesting  and  pleasing  feature  of  the  times. 
Curious  examples  have  been  given  of  operators  com- 
municating by  Morse  characters  under  circumstances 
of  peculiar  difficulty.  The  most  notable  of  these 
which  the  writer  ever  encountered  is  the  following,  from 
the  pen  of  Mr.  D.  B.  Grandy,  until  recently  a  welk 
known  operator  in  the  Boston  office.  It  is  proper  to 
say  that,  with  a  view  of  verifying  the  statement  before 
giving  it  here,  the  publisher  wrote  Mr.  Grandy  on  the 
subject,  and  received  the  reply  that  the  matter  was  pre- 
cisely as  given  in  the  subjoined  account: 

A  CASE  OF  EPILEPTIC  TELEGRAPHY. 

"In  the  winter  of  1870-71,"  says  Mr.  Grandy,  "I 
was  employed  in  the  Western  Union  office  at  Boston. 
Among  my  associates  was  George  • —  — ,  with  whom 
I  had  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  friendship. 
One  evening  I  was  at  the  theatre,  when  considerable 
commotion  occurred  in  the  balcony  above  me.  After 
the  play  I  learned  that  a  man  had  fainted  and  been 
carried  out  insensible.  On  arriving  at  my  lodgings  I 
found  that  the  man  was  no  other  than  my  friend  George, 
who  also  occupied  a  room  in  the  same  house.  I  went 
to  his  room  and  found  his  room-mate  and  a  physician 
there,  while  George  lay  on  the  bed,  his  face  pale,  his 


64  OPERATORS  AND  MESSENGERS. 

eyes  open,  but  fixed  and  glassy,  and  his  limbs  cold  and 
rigid  as  death.  The  physician  pronounced  it  an  epilep- 
tic fit.  We  spoke  to  him,  chafed  him,  and  made  every 
effort  to  rouse  him,  but  in  vain.  Finally  we  sat  down 
and  awaited  his  return  to  consciousness.  I  drew  my 
chair  up  to  his  side,  and  took  his  hand  in  mine.  As  I 
did  so  I  noticed  a  feeble  pressure  by  his  fingers,  and 
then  that  pressure  resolved  itself  into  dots  and  dashes, 
and  I  read  from  them: 

"'W-h-a-t  d-o-c-t-o-r  s-a-y  a-b-t  m-eT 

"'I  asked  him  if  he  could  hear  what  I  said  to  him.' 

"'Y-e-s.' 

'"Are  you  in  pain?' 

"'Y-e-s.' 

"'Can't  you  speak?' 

"'N-o.' 

"In  short,  I  got,  from  the  slight  pressure  of  his  fin- 
gers, enough  dots  and  dashes  to  describe  his  feelings 
to  the  physician,  who  was  enabled  by  the  description 
thus  obtained  to  judge  of  his  condition  and  apply  the 
necessary  remedies,  so  that,  after  watching  by  his  bed- 
side until  the  small  hours  of  the  morning,  we  were  re- 
lieved from  our  anxiety  by  signs  of  returning  anima- 
tion. By  four  o'clock  he  was  completely  himself  again, 
but  greatly  exhausted,  and  it  was  several  days  before 
he  was  able  to  appear  at  the  office.  He  afterward  in- 
formed me  that  from  the  time  he  fainted  in  the  theatre 
until  he  came  out  of  the  trance,  he  knew  all  that  was 
passing  around  him,  and  heard  all  that  was  said,  but 
could  neither  see,  speak  nor  move  a  muscle,  except  those 
of  his  fingers,  which  he  was  able  to  use  sufficiently  to 


OPERATOKS  AND  MESSENGERS.  65 

communicate  with  us  by  feeble  dots  and  dashes.  The 
physician  pronounced  it  the  most  singular  case  of  the 
kind  that  ever  came  under  his  treatment.  Certainly  no 
other  method  of  communicating  was  possible  in  his 
condition,  and  it  would  seem  from  this  incident  that  a 
person  in  a  dying  condition  would  be  able,  if  he  pos- 
sessed a  knowledge  of  telegraphic  characters,  to  let  his 
thoughts  and  feelings  be  known  long  after  any  other 
means  of  communication  became  impossible." 

AN   ARMLESS    OPERATOR 

Mr.  Patrick  Shea,  of  Binghamton,  N.  T.,  operates  with- 
out arms,  an  accomplishment  mastered  after  six  months 
of  close  and  unwearied  application.  Having  lost  both 
arms  in  an  accident  while  fireman  on  the  Albany  and 
Susquehanna  Railroad,  he  was  provided  with  a  pair  of 
cork  substitutes,  and  with-  these  performs  all  his  duties 
as  operator. 

A  DEAF  OPERATOR  RECEIVING  BY  SOUND. 

When  the  magnetic  telegraph  was  first  introduced, 
there  was  an  arrangement  by  which  the  letters  and 
words  communicated  were  reeled  off  by  means  of  punc- 
tures in  long  narrow  strips  of  white  paper,  after  this 
fashion,  namely : , ,  etc.  These  were  trans- 
lated by  the  receiving  operator,  and  thus  rendered  into 
readable  English.  In  the  course  of  time  this  attach- 
ment to  the  Morse  instrument  was  dispensed  with,  and 
the  operators,  instead,  read  the  messages  by  sound,  or 
the  clicking  of  the  instrument,  with  the  proper  inter- 
vals for  a  clear  understanding  of  that  language,  so  that 


66  OPEEATOES  AND  MESSENGERS. 

there  could  be  just  as  much  certainty  as  there  is  in 
speaking,  compared  to  written  or  printed  communica- 
tions. The  operator's  ear  was  rendered  more  and  more 
acute,  and  he,  therefore,  could  hear  the  faintest  vibra- 
tions, or  the  whisperings  of  the  instrument.  But  one 
would  scarcely  think  that  the  arrangement  would  suit 
a  deaf  man.  It  does  not,  but  the  deaf  man  can  suit 
himself  to  even  these  circumstances.  The  fact  is  de- 
monstrated. There  was  a  gentleman  in  the  American 
Telegraph  Company's  office,  in  Washington,  who, 
though  he  could  not  hear,  was  classed  as  a  first-class 
operator,  dealing  with  sounds!  He  could  send  and  re- 
ceive dispatches  intelligently.  But  how  was  this  done  ? 
By  the  sense  of  feding.  He  placed  his  leg  against  that 
of  the  instrument  table,  and  in  other  ways  read  by  the 
slight  jarring,  while  watching  the  operation  of  the  in- 
strument itself,  and  he  thus  understood  all  that  the  little 
"sounder"  was  talking  about 

A    "  FRISCO  "    YARN. 

"Two  young  men,"  says  the  Chronicle  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, "telegraph  operators,  board  at  one  of  our  lead- 
ing third-class  hotels,  and  being  of  a  somewhat  hilarious 
disposition,  find  great  amusement  in  carrying  on  con- 
versation with  each  other  at  the  table  by  ticking  on 
their  plates  with  a  knife,  fork  or  spoon.  For  the  infor- 
mation of  those  not  familiar  with  telegraphy  it  may  be 
well  to  state  that  a  combination  of  sounds  or  ticks  con- 
stitutes the  telegraphic  alphabet,  and  persons  familiar 
with  these  sounds  can  converse  thereby  as  intelligibly 
as  with  spoken  words.  The  young  lightning  strikers, 


OPERATORS   AND   MESSENGERS.  57 

as  already  stated,  were  in  the  habit  of  indulging  in  table 
talk  by  this  means  whenever  they  desired  to  say  any- 
thing private  to  each  other.  For  instance,  No.  1  would 
pick  up  his  knife  and  tick  off  some  such  remark  as  this 
to  No.  2  :  'Why  is  this  butter  like  the  offence  of  Ham- 
let's uncle?' 

"No.  2 — 'I  give  it  up.' 

"No.  1 — 'Because  it's  rank,  and  smells  to  heaven.' 

"  Of  course  the  joke  is  not  appreciated  by  the  landlord 
(who  sits  close  by),  because  he  doesn't  understand  tele- 
graphic ticks,  and  probably  he  wouldn't  appreciate  it 
much  if  he  did;  but  the  jokers  enjoy  it  immensely, 
and  laugh  immoderately,  while  the  other  guests  wonder 
what  can  be  the  occasion  for  this  merriment,  and  natu- 
rally conclude  that  the  operators  must  be  idiots. 

"  A  few  days  ago,  while  these  fun-loving  youths  were 
'seated  at  breakfast,  a  stout-built  young  man  entered 
the  dining  room  with  a  handsome  girl  on  his  arm,  whose 
timid,  blushing  countenance  showed  her  to  be  a  bride. 
The  couple  had,  in  fact,  been  married  but  a  day  or  two 
previous,  and  had  come  to  San  Francisco  from  their 
home  in  Oakland,  or  Mud  Springs,  or  some  other  rural 
village,  for  the  purpose  of  spending  the  honeymoon. 
The  telegraphic  tickers  commenced  as  soon  as  the  hus- 
band and  wife  had  seated  themselves. 

"No.  1  opened  the  discourse  as  follows:  'What  a 
lovely  little  pigeon  this  is  alongside  of  me — ain't  she?' 

"No.  2 — 'Perfectly  charming — looks  as  if  butter 
wouldn't  melt  in  her  mouth.  Just  married,  I  guess. 
QDon't  you  think  so?' 

"No.  1 — 'Yes,  I  should  judge  she  was.  What  luscious 


58  OPEKATORS  AND  MESSENGEK8. 

lips  she's  got!  If  that  country  bumpkin  beside  her 
was  out  of  the  road,  I'd  give  her  a  hug  and  a  kiss,  just 
for  luck.' 

"No.  2 — '  Suppose  you  try  it  anyhow.  Give  her  a  little 
nudge  under  the  table  with  your  knee  ' 

"  There  is  no  telling  to  what  extent  the  impudent  ras- 
cals might  have  gone  but  for  an  amazing  and  entirely 
unforseen  event.  The  bridegroom's  face  had  flushed, 
and  a  dark  scowl  was  on  his  brow  during  the  progress 
of  the  ticking  conversation,  but  the  operators  were  too 
much  occupied  with  each  other  to  pay  any  attention  to 
him.  The  reader  may  form  some  idea  of  the  young 
men's  consternation  when  the  partner  of  the  lady 
picked  up  his  knife  and  ticked  off  the  following  terse 
but  vigorous  message: 

"  'This  lady  is  my  wife,  and  as  soon  as  she  gets  through 
with  her  breakfast  I  propose  to  wring  your  necks,  you 
insolent  whelps.' 

"  The  countenances  of  the  operators  fell  very  suddenly 
when  this  message  commenced.  By  the  time  it  ended 
they  had  lost  all  appetite  and  appreciation  of  jokes, 
and  slipped  out  of  the  dining  room  in  a  very  rapid  and 
unceremonious  manner.  The  bridegroom,  it  seems, 
was  a  telegraph  operator  himself." 

KECOGNIZING  EACH  OTHER'S  TOUCH. 

Operators  who  are 'in  the  habit  of  receiving  from  and 
sending  to  one  another,  become  so  accustomed  to  the 
peculiarities  of  each  other's  touch  as  to  readily  recog- 
nize it.  For  example,  it  is  told  of  Mr.  Hempstead,  one 
of  the  operators  in  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany's office  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  that  by  this  means  he 


OPERATORS  AND  MESSENGERS.  69 

succeeded  in  making  a  discovery  of  great  importance 
to  an  unfortunate  man  and  his  friends.  The  circum- 
stances were  these :  Mike  W.  Sherman,  formerly  a  tele- 
graph operator  in  Hartford,  escaped  from  the  Middle- 
town  insane  asylum,  where  he  had  been  confined,  and, 
th  mgh  thorough  search  was  made  for  him,  he  for  about 
two  weel.s  successfully  eluded  those  who  were  on  hig 
trad.  While  Hempstead  was  at  work  in  the  Hart 
ford  office  one  night  he  suddenly  recognized,  among 
the  clatter  of  a  score  of  messages  passing  over  the  wire, 
a  sound  which  he  at  once  declared  was  the  touch  of  the 
missing  Mike.  It  proved  to  be  a  message  from  Wall- 
ingford,  and  an  investigation  showed  that  the  Hartford 
operator  was  quite  right  in  ascribing  it  to  the  insane  man, 
who  was  afterward  found  there,  he  having  dropped  into 
the  office  in  the  former  place,  and  taken  a  hand  at  his 
old  business. 

This  same  ability  of  distinguishing  touch  is  a  means 
of  friendly  intercourse  between  operators  separated  by 
long  distances,  and  who  probably  have  never  seen  each 
other.  Attracted  by  an  influence  more  subtle  than 
the  electric  fluid  itself,  lovers  have  formed  their  first 
intimacy  by  this  means,  and  not  always  with  the  ill- 
fortune  which  it  appears  followed  the  "  Misplaced  (Tele- 
graphic) Affection" — shall  we  say  "immortalized,"  by 
Beta,  in  a  rhyming  effusion  which  first  saw  the  light 
as  a  contribution  to  The  Telegrapher. 

MISPLACED  (TELEGRAPHIC)  AFFECTION. 

Thomas  To  t,  telegraphist,  ten  hours  every  day 
Labored  conscientiously  for  promises  to  pay ; 
On  the  self  same  circuit,  not  a  thousand  miles  from  T, 
Nancy  Anna  Wilkins  gently  jerked  the  mystic  key. 


60  OPEEATOBS  AND  MESSENGERS. 

What  could  be  expected  when  we  note  their  common  labors? 
What,  when  we  consider  that  the  two  had  long  been  neighbors? 
(Not  so  near  that  they  had  met,  but  near  enough,  'tis  true 
Little  distances  may  lend  enchantment  to  a  view.) 

What  could  be  expected  under  all  the  circumstances, 
But  that  each  should  halo  each  with  tender  loving  fancies? 
But  that  each  in  painting  each  should  color  each  in  glory? 
What  could  be  anticipated — save  the  old,  old  story? 

She,  in  his  imaginings,  lived  something  light  and  airy, 
Like  "  Sweet  Home,"  or  cotton  wool,  a  zephyr  or  a  fairy; 
He,  in  hers,  existed  something  big,  bold,  loud,  defiant, 
Brave  as  Jack  the  Killer  and  as  burly  as  the  giant. 

Nancy  fell  in  love  with  Thomas  Tot's  manipulation; 
He  could  take  and  shake  a  key  to  whip  the  'tarnal  nation; 
He  could  send — you  all  must  know  what  merit  there  was  in  it — 
Eighty,  more  or  less,  and  ' '  take  "  some  ninety  words  per  minute. 

Thomas  fell  in  love  with  Nancy  Anna's  disposition, 
You  yourselves  had  done  the  same  if  placed  in  his  position; 
O,  she  was — by'telegraph — as  sweet  as  Jersey  peaches, 
With  a  knack  for  simple  jokes  and  sentimental  speeches. 

Every  week  day  morning,  when  the  wires  were  in  trim, 

Thomas  said  g  m*  to  her,  and  she  g  m  to  him; 

Every  idle  afternoon  when  business  was  over, 

Down  they  sat  to  have  a  chat,  and  thought  themselves  in  clover. 

Many  years  of  this  rolled  on  in  regular  rotation, 
'Till  came  round  Tom's  decaded  two  weeks'  (or  less)  vacation ; 
So  he  telegraphed  his  friend  to  don  her  silks  and  satins, 
For  that  he  would  be  with  her  before  the  morrow's  matins. 

Nancy  Anna  decked  herself  in  everything  that  glitters, 
Fortified  her  female  frame  with  Drake's  Plantation  Bitters; 
And,  too  nervous  for  severer  exercise  than  waiting, 
Let  her  student  run  the  books  and  do  the  operating. 

On  the  way  Tom  spent  the  day  a  planning  out  the  meeting, 
Setting  to  the  letler  e  the  items  of  their  greeting; 
How  to  clasp  her  tiny  hand,  around  the  neck  to  hold  her, 
While  her  dainty,  downy  cheek  reposed  upon  his  shoulder. 

"The  telegraphic  contraction  for  "good  morning." 


OPEKATOBS  AND   MESSENGERS.  61 

What  was  his  astonishment,  when  first  he  stood  before  her? 
What  was  her's  when  first  she  faced  her  long,  long  time  adorer? 
His,  to  find  her  slim,  and  grim,  and  gaunt,  and  five  eleven; 
Hers,  to  see  him  old  and  fat,  and  barely  four  feet  seven! 

Cupid's  dart  might  bring  its  smart  e'en  to  this  aged  duffer; 
Nancy  Anna's  spinster  heart,  though  old  and  tough,  could  suffer. 
Thus  to  meet  and  thus  to  part,  was  rough  enough  for  certain; 
Let  us  drop  a  briny — and  by  all  means  draw  the  curtain. 

"Who  of  you  who  read  these  lines,  while  plying  the  bandanna, 
Recollects  her  Thomas  Tot,  or  who  his  Nancy  Anna? 
Shall  I  pass  a  warning  word  to  point  my  modest  moral? 
Pshaw!  what  dictum  teaches  babes  there  is  no  milk  in  coral? 


BY  TELEGRAPH. 

On  the  contrary,  maids  have  been  both  wooed  and 
won  by  telegraph,  and  in  the  year  1874,  a  minister 
married  in  the  Keokuk,  Iowa,  office  of  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company,  a  couple  at  Bonaparte,  in 
the  same  State,  he  performing  the  ceremony  and  they 
pronouncing  the  marriage  vow  over  the  wire.  Five 
o'clock,  April  16th,  were  the  hour  and  the  day  fixed  for 
the  ceremony,  and  precisely  at  that  time  a  dispatch  was 
sent  to  Keokuk  to  the  effect  that  the  candidates  were  at 
the  telegraph  office  in  Bonaparte,  and  ready  to  proceed. 
The  following  was  then  sent: 

"KEOKUK,  Iowa,  April  16th,  1874. 
"  JOHN  SULLIVAN  and  FRANCES  GODOWN, 

Bonaparte,  la.: 
"  Please  join  hands  and  take  the  pledge. 

"WM.  G.  PRATT." 


62  OPERATORS   AND 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  pledge  which  had  been 
left  with  them. 

"You  mutually  and  solemnly  promise  before  God  and 
the  witnesses  present,  that  you  will  each  take  the  one 
you  hold  by  the  hand  to  be  your  lawful  and  wedded 
companion.  That,  forsaking  all  others,  you  will  cleave 
to  each  other  in  sickness  aud  in  health,  and  perform  all 
the  duties  of  a  faithful  companion  until  you  are  separ- 
ated by  death.  If  to  this  you  agree,  send  rne  a  mes- 
sage to  this  effect." 

Then  came  the  response: 

"  BONAPARTE,  April  16th,  1874. 
"WM.  C.  PRATT,  Keokuk: 

"We  take  the  pledge. 

"JoHN  SULLIVAN. 
"FRANCES  GODOWN." 

The  concluding  dispatch  was  then  sent  as  follows: 
"KEOKUK,  la.,  April  16th,  1874. 
"  JOHN  SULLIVAN  and  FRANCES  GODOWN, 

Bonaparte,  la.: 

"By  authority  I  pronounce  you  husband  and  wife, 
and  may  God  bless  you. 

"Wn.  C.  PRATT." 

The.  operators  all  along  the  line  then  tendered  their 
congratulations  to  the  happy  couple  upon  their  mar- 
riage by  the  lightning  process.  Managers  Dolbear,  of 
Keokuk,  and  Detwiler,  of  Bonaparte,  were  the  officiating 
telegraphists.  This  was  the  first  marriage  by  telegraph, 
so  far  as  there  is  any  record.  Several  have  been  so 
celebrated  since,  and  many  more,  doubtless,  will  be; 


OPERATOES  AND  MESSENGERS.  63 

but  we  deprecate  the  insinuation  which  has  been  made, 
that  divorces  will  be  obtained  by  the  same  means. 

HOW  AN  ABSCONDER  WAS  CAUGHT. 

Now  and  then  an  operator  proves  himself  unworthy 
of  the  profession,  as  did  a  young  fellow  named  D.  B. 
Leber,who,  at  the  close  of  his  telegraphic  career,  got  into 
disgrace  by  stealing  a  package  containing  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars,  from  the  express  agent  at  Watseka,HL, 
where  he  was  employed  as  operator.  He  also  at  the 
same  time  forwarded  to  the  secretary  of  the  telegraph 
company  a  package  purporting  to  contain  sixty-two  dol- 
lars, but  which  was  filled  with  blank  paper.  He  then 
left  by  train  for  Chicago,  calculating  that  as  there  was 
no  other  operator  at  "Watseka,  he  would  have  time  to 
effect  his  escape.  But  he  was  caught  by  means  of  an- 
other man  there,  whose  knowledge  of  telegraphy  was 
confined  to  making  the  alphabet,  but  who,  upon  the 
discovery  of  the  theft,  opened  the  key  and  sent  a  mes- 
sage three  or  four  times,  to  nobody  in  particular,  in- 
forming whoever  it  might  concern  that  Leber  had  ske- 
daddled with  the  cash,  as  above  related.  He  could  read 
nothing  that  was  said  to  him,  and  continued  to  repeat 
his  announcement  at  short  intervals,  even  when  other 
offices  were  engaged  in  sending  messages  on  the  wire, 
until  a  man  was  sent  there  by  train  to  shut  him  off.  His 
timely  information,  however,  resulted  in  the  capture  of 
the  thief,  who  was  arrested  in  Chicago,  and  the  money 
recovered. 

The  feat  of  this  novice  in  the  art  is  remindful  of  what 


64  OPERATORS  AND  MESSENGERS. 

has  been  accomplished  by  defter  fingers,  if  not  apter  in- 
telligence, than  his,  in  the  way  of 

WONDERFUL  SPEED  IN  TELEGRAPHING. 

It  is  stated  that  no  operator  of  modern  times  has 
been  found  to  exceed  the  sending  speed  of  Jo.  Fisher, 
of  Nashville,  to  Jimmy  Leonard,  of  Louisville,  in  1860 
or  1861.  The  rate  was  an  average  of  either  fifty-three 
or  fifty-four  words  a  minute  for  ten  consecutive  min- 
utes. The  matter  was  press  report.  No  better  receiver 
than  Mr.  Leonard,  who  copied  it,  has  yet  been  reported. 
A  telegram  was  sent  from  London  to  Washington  in 
nine  minutes  and  thirty  seconds.  Two  thousand  five 
hundred  and  eighteen  words  were  sent  from  New  York 
to  Cleveland  in  an  hour.  On  the  day  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
funeral,  the  American  Telegraph  office  in  Washington 
transmitted  seventy-five  thousand  words  of  reports  for 
newspapers  in  New  York  and  elsewhere.  All  but  about 
five  thousand  of  the  whole  number  of  words  transmit- 
ted were  sent  after  7  P.  M.,  and  it  was  all  through  at 
twenty  minutes  after  1  A.  M.,  being  at  the  rate  of  twelve 
thousand  words  per  hour.  Eight  wires  were  in  con- 
stant use,  and  nine  part  of  the  time.  All  this  was  ac- 
complished in  addition  to  the  large  amount  of  private 
business  of  the  line.  About  ten  thousand  words  of 
press  news  in  addition  were  sent  by  the  United  States 
line,  making  a  total  of  eighty-five  thousand  words  sent 
to  and  paid  for  by  the  press  of  the  country  in  one  day 
from  Washington  alone,  at  an  expense  of  about  three 
thousand  dollars.  Thirteen  thousand  six  hundred 
words  were  transmitted  by  the  House  printing  instru- 
ments on  a  single  wire  after  half -past  7  o'clock. 


OPERATORS  AND  MESSENGERS.  65 

When,  on  one  occasion,  the  lines  were  connected  through 
from  San  Francisco,  California,  to  Heart's  Content, 
Newfoundland,  the  tenninus  of  the  Atlantic  cable,  af- 
ter exchange  of  the  usual  complimentary  messages,  at 
twenty -one  minutes  past  7  A.  M.,  Valentia  time, 
a  message  was  started  from  Valentia  for  San  Francisco, 
passing  through  New  York  at  thirty -five  minutes  past 
2  p.  M.,  New  York  time,  and  was  received  in  San 
Francisco  at  twenty-one  minutes  past  11  P.  M.,  San 
Francisco  time,  and  its  receipt  at  once  acknowledged. 
The  actual  time  occupied  was  only  two  minutes,  and  the 
distance  traversed  fourteen  thousand  miles,  though  the 
largest  distance  worked  in  one  circuit  was  but  five 
thousand  miles,  namely,  from  San  Francisco  to  Heart's 
Content.  Subsequently  the  operator  at  San  Francisco 
transmitted  an  eighty- word  message  to  Heart's  Con- 
tent direct,  occupying  three  minutes  in  transmission, 
which  was  repeated  back  by  the  operator  at  Heart's 
Content  in  two  minutes  fifty  seconds. 

These  wonderful  accomplishments  remind  us  of 
Shakspeare's  gentle  Puck,  who,  responding  to  an  order 
from  the  fairy  king,  says  : 

"I'll  put  a  gird'e  round  about  the  earth 
In  forty  minutes." 

THE  MESSENGER  SERVICE 

has  been  perfected  in  New  York  by  the  American  Dis- 
trict Telegraph  Company,  which  employs  nearly  a  thou- 
sand uniformed  boys,  none  under  fourteen  years  of  age. 
They  ans\ver  summonses  at  all  hours,  from  over  five 
thousand  boxes,  in  dwelling-houses,  stores,  etc.,-  in  all 


66  OPEEATOES   AND    MESSENGERS. 

parts  of  the  city.  The  various  uses  to  which  the  mes- 
sengers are  put  are  remarkable.  Of  late  there  has  arisen 
a  demand  for  escorts  to  places  of  amusement,  and  from 
one  house  to  another.  The  former  lias  become  a  regular 
practice.  One  evening  recently  there  were  eight  ladies 
at  six  different  theatres  whose  escorts  were  furnished 
"to  order."  Men  as  well  as  women  employ  escorts  for 
various  purposes.  Most  people  who  require  the  services 
of  the  messengers  are  strangers,  who  wish  for  guides  to 
show  them  the  "sights."  Another  use  that  is  made  of 
the  District  Telegraph  messengers  is  to  attend  children, 
particularly  girls,  to  and  from  school.  Cases  are  not 
unknown  where  a  messenger  has  been  summoned  and 
sent  in  search  of  a  missing  husband,  who  was  supposed 
to  be  at  one  of  his  favorite  haunts.  It  is  not  an  un- 
common thing  for  a  messenger  to  be  sent  home  with  an 
intoxicated  person.  Messenger  boys  and  men  are  also 
extensively  employed  as  detectives  for  various  purposes. 
Special  messengers,  or  men  or  boys  in  plain  clothes,  are 
assigned  to  special  duty  as  "spotters"  of  suspected 
clerks  in  stores,  and  they  are  said  to  have  done  excel- 
lent work.  In  fact,  detective  duty  appears  peculiarly 
adapted  to  those  in  the  messenger  service.  Another 
use  which  has  been  found  for  messenger  boys  is  the 
paying  by  proxy  of  New  Year's  calls.  They  are  also 
employed  as  ushers  at  fashionable  weddings,  and  as 
"  managers  "  of  the  arrangements  for  carriages  on  such 
occasions.  The  books  of  the  company  show  the  services 
for  which  the  boys  have  been  required,  find  many  laugh- 
able records  are  to  be  seen.  One  boy  was  detailed  to 
take  care  of  a  lady's  poodle,  for  which  he  was  paid  thirty 


OPERATORS  AND  MESSENGERS.  67 

cents  an  hour.  An  escort  was  required  to  attend  to  the 
theatre  a  lady  whose  husband  was  to  "  come  later."  A 
young  man  was  once  telegraphed  for  in  order  to  bring 
a  bumptious  servant  to  terms.  During  political  cam- 
paigns the  boys  are  employed  extensively  to  distribute 
documents.  Car-drivers,  and,  indeed,  all  classes  of 
people  who  have  to  get  up  very  early  in  the  morning, 
are  peculiarly  dependent  upon  the  messenger-boy  sys- 
tem. The  books  also  show  that  the  messenger  boys 
have  been  used  to  order  dinners,  to  buy  all  kinds  of 
liquors,  to  do  shopping  for  women,  to  pay  bills  of  all 
amounts,  and  even  to  borrow  umbrellas.  Not  un- 
frequently  boys  are  sent  to  pawn-brokers'  shops  with 
articles. 

THE  TELEGRAPH  MESSENGER. 

There  is  perhaps  no  person  who  sees  more  of  the 
different  phases  of  human  nature  than  the  messenger 
connected  with  the  regular  telegraph  companies.  He 
is  hailed  at  one  door  with  anxious,  enthusiastic  joy;  at 
another  with  superstitious  dread,  and  at  another  with 
an  impatient  nervousness,  which  has  the  effect  of  mak- 
ing the  person  to  whom  the  telegram  is  addressed, 
snatch  a  leaf  from  the  receipt  book  instead  of  tearing 
open  the  envelope  of  the  doubtful  message. 

The  messenger  rings  the  door-bell  of  Mr.  Jones'  resi- 
dence. Mr.  Jones  attends  the  call.  On  seeing  the 
messenger  present  the  telegram,  he  hurriedly  tears  off 
the  wrapper  and  proceeds  to  read  it  over  and  over,  and 
finally  asks: 

"  Is  this  for  me  ?" 

"  It  seems  to  be  your  address.'* 


DO  OPERATORS   AND    MEaSENGERS. 

"Where  will  the' marriage  ceremony  be  performed?' 
"  I  don't  know,  sir,  anything  about  it;  please  sign  and 
let  me  go." 

"  Oh !  it 's  a  telegram !     I  must  tell  my  wife."     And 
the  door  abruptly  closes  in  the  face  of  the  messenger. 
On  his  route  the  messenger  stops  to  deliver  a  dis- 
patch to  Mrs.  Spilkins.     The  family  are  at  dinner. 
"Bridget,  who  rang?" 

"  Missis,  it 's  for  you.''  And  Bridget  hands  her  the 
telegram.  A  shriek,  and  she  falls  backward,  her  lips 
faintly  murmuring  "telegram!"  After  sufficiently  re 
covering,  she  remarks:  "I  told  you,  Mr.  Spilkins,  about 
the  dreadful  dream  Mrs.  Smith  had  last  week  " 

"  Oh  !  poor  Jane — when  will  the  funeral  take  place  ?'' 
"And  her  poor  children — oh!  how  can  I  bear  it1?" 
"Mr.  Spilkins,  you  wicked  man,  how  can  you  smile 
while  you  read  it  ?" 

Mr.  Spilkins  commences  reading  aloud : 
"  Petersburg,  December  1st." 
"  Oh  !  Mr.  Spilkins,  don't  read  it  to  me — " 
He  continues :  "  Dear  Mother — ' 
"And  did  she  write  it  before  she  died?" 
"  Dear  mother,  all  well.     I  and  the  children  will  be 
over  on  the  early  train  to-morrow." 

"  Ah  !  I  knew  it  was  no  bad  news  ;  but  I  am  always 
BO  nervous  about  a  telegram." 

A  MESSENGER  MISTAKEN  FOR  A  POLICEMAN. 

A  story  is  told  which  suggests  that  the  blue  coats 
and  decorations  have  led  to  the  supposition  that  the 
wearers  are  policemen  in  miniature.  A  short  time  ago 


OPERATORS  AND  MESSENGERS.  69 

a  boy  was  sent  with  a  telegram  for  a  son  of  the  Emerald 
jlsle,  whose  name  was  Mulligan.  The  woman  of  the 
house  came  to  the  door,  in  answer  to  his  summons,  and, 
seeing  his  uniform,  surmised  at  once  that  her  Pat  had 
been  cutting  up  some  of  his  shines  again,  and  resolved 
to  save  him  from  the  lock-up  at  all  hazards.  "  Does 
Patrick  Mulligan  live  here  ?"  "  Indade,  sir !  me  Pat 
was  drafted  into  the  army,  an'  sure  an'  he's  gone  way  off, 
an1 1  don't  know  where  he  is,  at  all."  "Well!  here's  a 
jtelegram  for  him."  "A  telegram !  fhat  's  that  ?"  "Why, 
it's  a  dispatch — a  message."  "Do  yees  mane  a  tele 
'graf  dispatch,  something  like  a  letther  f '  "  That 's  it, 
exactly."  "Is  that  all?  Faith,  an'  if  you'll  be  afther 
goin'  over  forninst  the  grocery  ye  '11  find  him  there 
smoking  his  pipe  on  the  stoop.  I  took  yees  for  a  cop." 
Thus  much  of  operators  and  their  useful  allies. 


70  THE    TELEGKAPH    IN  WAS. 


THE  TELEGEAPH  IN  WAE. 

In  the  introductory  chapter  we  showed  how,  cen- 
turies before  the  Christian  era,  as  dated  in  records 
which  are  considered  authentic,  signaling  by  fire  was 
employed  as  a  means  of  advantage  in  military  oper- 
ations, and  that  the  comparatively  clumsy  signaling  ar- 
rangements in  use  just  previously  to  the  introduction 
of  the  electric  telegraph,  had  one  of  their  principal  oc- 
cupations in  communicating  military  doings  and  events. 

In  general,  it  may  be  stated  that  sun-signaling,  which 
is,  of  course,  only  practicable  in  day-time,  has  advan- 
tages over  all  other  methods  of  visual  telegraphy. 
Messages  can  be  transmitted  to  great  distances, 
and  the  clearness  with  which  the  signals  can  be  made 
renders  background  of  but  little  importance,  while  in 
flag-signaling  the  distinctness  of  the  signal  depends 
materially  on  this  question. 

At  the  present  time  all  the  armies  of  the  civilized 
world  are  provided,  while  engaged  in  actual  campaign- 
ing, with  a  field  telegraphic  system,  more  or  less 
efficient,  besides  availing  themselves  of  local  and  exist- 
ent means  of  lightning  communication  wherever  prac- 
ticable. Telegraphy  in  war  was  never  employed  to 
equal  advantage  and  with  greater  perfection  than  by 
the  Prussians  in  the  campaign  of  1870-1;  but  in  our 
own  country,  the  world  witnessed  its  most  gigantic 
operation. 

Before  giving  an  account,  and  a  necessarily  brief  one. 


THE    TELEGRAPH    IN  WAB.  71 

of  the  extent  and  value  of  the  telegraph  in  the  Ameri- 
can civil  war,  a  general  sketch  of  its  employment  in 
military  operations  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

FIELD  TELEGRAPHY. 

The  English  army,  it  is  said,  was  the  first  to  use  it.  In 
the  Crimean  war  their  trenches  and  batteries  before  Se- 
bastopol  were  traversed  and  connected  by  lines  of  tele- 
graph. The  French  soon  followed  their  example,  and 
constructed  a  similar  system  in  their  own  lines,  while, 
later  on,  a  cable  laid  across  the  Black  Sea  put  the 
armies  in  the  field  in  direct  communication  with  Paris 
and  London.  Since  that  time  a  regular  telegraph 
corps  has  been  organized  in  every  European  army. 
The  field  telegraph  was  used  by  the  French  in  Italy  in 
1859,  and  in  their  campaigns  against  the  Kabyles  in 
Algeria ;  and  in  America  both  the  Federals  and  Confed- 
erates made  free  use  of  permanent  and  temporary  lines 
during  the  War  of  Secession,  the  Southern  cavalry,  in 
particular,  displaying  great  daring  and  enterprise  in 
riding  round  the  flanks  of  the  Federal  armies,  seizing 
their  telegraph  lines,  sending  false  messages  to  the 
Northern  generals,  and  then  cutting  the  line  and  retiring 
as  rapidly  and  secretly  as  they  came.  It  was,  however, 
as  before  stated,  in  the  Prussian  army,  and  in  the  great 
campaigns  of  1864,  1866  and  1870-71  that  military  tele- 
graphy attained  its  greatest  development ;  and  after  the 
experience  of  these  three  wars,  the  Prussian  telegraph 
corps  is  probably  the  most  efficient  in  Europe. 

The  object  of  the  field  telegraph  is  to  keep  the  head- 


72  THE    TELEGRAPH   IN  WAR. 

quarters  of  an  army  in  communication  with  its  several 
corps,  and  at  the  same  time  with  the  general  telegraph 
system  of  the  country.  The  line  may  be  either  an 
aerial  or  a  ground  wire,  or  a  combination  of  both,  the 
former  being  stretched  on  poles,  while  the  latter  is 
insulated  by  being  enclosed  in  a  light  cable,  about  half 
an  inch  thick,  and  laid  along  by  the  roadsides  or  across 
the  fields. 

"Where  there  is  an  extensive  telegraph  system  in 
operation,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  connect  the  head- 
quarters of  the  army  with  the  nearest  point  on  a  per 
manent  telegraph  line,  and  in  most  European  countries 
any  army  in  the  field  would  seldom,  if  ever,  be  more 
than  ten  miles  from  such  a  line.  Ten  miles  of  the  field 
telegraph  can  easily  be  erected  in  half  a  day ;  indeed, 
the  Austrian  engineers  assert  that  on  favorable  ground 
they  could  do  the  work  in  two  hours.  In  most  cases, 
of  course,  the  advancing  army  would  have  to  repair  the 
permanent  hues  which  would  be  partially  destroyed  by 
the  retreating  forces,  and  in  this  way  twenty-five  miles 
of  wire  were  often  erected  by  the  Prussians  in  a  single 
day.  As  soon  as  an  army  moves  forward,  the  field  tele- 
graph line  previously  erected  is  taken  down,  while  a 
fresh  line  is  laid  from  the  new  head-quarters  to  the 
nearest  permanent  telegraph.  This  is  done  with  a  view 
to  economizing  the  material,  an  enormous  amount  of 
which  would  have  to  be  carried  with  the  army,  if  the 
lines  it  left  behind  it  in  its  advance  were  not  removed, 
and  the  poles,  wire  and  insulators  employed  in  their 
construction  again  utilized. 

The  conducting  wires    of   the  military   telegraphs 


THE   TELEGRAPH  IN   WAS.  73 

which  are  used  by  the  French  army,  are  so  made  as  to 
be  capable  of  resisting  the  trampling  of  horles  and  the 
crushing  of  wheels  of  the  heaviest  vehicles  on  com- 
mon roads,  though  not  that  of  artillery  or  of  a  railway 
train. 

INTERRUPTIONS  AND  WIRE  "  TAPPING  "  BY  THE   ENEMY. 

While  the  field  telegraph  affords  a  commander  a  rapid 
and  certain,  medium  of  communication  with  his  base  of 
operations  and  the  various  corps  of  his  army,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  it  is  one  which  is  continually  liable 
to  interruption  by  an  enterprising  enemy.  Wherever 
a  general  has  to  contend  with  an  army  well  provided 
with  good  cavalry,  he  will  find  it  extremely  difficult  to 
protect  his  telegraph  lines  from  being  destroyed  by 
daring  raids  of  his  opponents.  There  are  several  easy 
ways-  of  making  a  telegraph  line  temporarily  useless. 
The  simplest  and  most  obvious  method  is  to  pull  down 
the  poles  and  cut  the  wires  into  pieces ;  but  when  this 
is  done  the  damage  is  easily  detected,  and  the  repairs 
at  once  commenced.  The  interruption  will,  therefore, 
foe  far  more  serious  if  it  can  be  effected  in  a  way  which 
.twill  not  permit  of  its  exact  locality  being  so  readily  dis- 
covered. This  can  be  done  by  cutting  the  wire,  intro- 
Jducing  a  piece  of  gutta  percha  or  any  other  non-con- 
ducting substance  into  the  course  of  the  circuit,  and 
connecting  the  ends  of  the  wire  with  it,  so  as  to  give  it 
jthe  appearance  of  one  of  the  ordinary  joints  or  splices 
of  the  line.  At  the  same  time  a  few  poles  can  be  pulled 
klown  in  another  place,  and  the  wires  cut,  and  the  prob- 


74  THE   TELEGKAPH    IN   WAB. 

ability  is  that  the  engineers  who  repair  the  line  will  not 
discover  the  hidden  interruption  of  the  circuit  un- 
til after  they  have  restored  the  gap,  and  found  that  the 
wire  is  still  cut  somewhere  else;  and  even  then  the  place 
where  the  non-conducting  substance  is  introduced  will 
not  be  discovered  until  some  time  has  been  employed 
in  carefully  testing  the  line  with  the  galvanometer. 

But  there  are  other  dangers  to  telegraphic  communi- 
cation in  the  field  besides  the  mere  damage  to  the  line. 
If  the  enemy's  cavalry  get  possession  of  a  station,  they 
can  easily  send  messages  containing  false  information 
or  delusive  orders  to  well-known  officers  of  the  oppos- 
ing force,  while  the  place  from  which  they  are  sent  and 
the  assumed  name  in  which  they  are  dispatched,  will 
give  the  messages  an  appearance  of  authenticity  which, 
if  it  does  not  completely  deceive  the  recipient,  will  at 
least  be  the  cause  of  considerable  doubt  and  perplexity 
to  him,  and,  perhaps,  make  him  hesitate  to  accept  the 
accurate  information  or  authentic  orders  received  from 
other  sources.  Again — even  without  occupying  a  station 
it  is  possible  to  read  the  messages  which  are  passing 
along  a  telegraph  line,  and  thus  perhaps  discover  im- 
portant secrets.  All  that  is  required  for  this  purpose 
is  a  small  portable  receiving  instrument  and  a  few  yards 
of  copper  Avire  to  connect  it  with  the  line.  A  single  in- 
dividual thus  equipped  can  "tap"  a  telegraph  line  and 
read  whatever  messages  may  be  passing  over  it. 

These  dangers,  however,  are  only  of  a  partial  or  tem- 
porary character.  By  carefully  patrolling  and  testing 
the  line,  it  cannot  be  inteiTupted  for  any  length  of  time 
without  the  damage  being  observed  and  repaired.  By 


THE    TELEOEAPH    IN  WAB.  75 

adopting  a  secret  arrangement  that  there  shall  be  a  cer- 
tain number  of  letters  in  the  two  or  three  words  at  the 
beginning  or  end  of  every  message,  a  dispatch  sent  by 
an  enemy  can  in  most  cases  be  detected.  And,  again, 
by  employing  a  cipher  alphabet,  it  will  be  difficult  for 
any  one  who  taps  the  line  to  obtain  information  from 
the  messages  which  fall  into  his  hands. 

FIRING    GUNS   BY   ELECTRICITY. 

Electricity  is  now  applied  in  the  firing  of  artillery,  an 
improvement  introduced  by  Mr.  M'Kinlay,  at  "Woolwich, 
England,  in  the  year  1856,  when  the  "galvanic  tube" 
was  invented.  In  this  tube  a  steel  or  platinum  wire 
is  embedded  in  a  charge  of  powder,  and  this  wire  forms 
a  link  in  the  circuit  of  a  galvanic  battery.  The  retard 
ation  of  the  current,  due  to  the  inferior  conducting 
power  of  the  steel  or  platinum  wire,  causes  it  to  be 
raised  to  a  red  heat,  and  by  this  means  the  powder  is 
exploded.  This  system  was  in  use  until  1862,  when 
the  Abel  "electric  tube"  was  invented.  In  this  the 
steel  wire  is  replaced  by  a  priming  charge,  consisting 
of  subphosphide  and  subsulphide  of  copper,  with  a 
little  chlorate  of  potash,  and  in  this  composition  the 
terminals  of  the  two  insulated  copper  wires  that  con- 
duct the  etectric  current  are  embedded.  The  points  of 
the  wires  are  about  one  sixteenth  of  an  inch  apart. 

A  later  innovation  in  military  matters  is  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  electric  light  for  the  purpose  of  illuminating 
camps,  which  has  been  successfully  adopted  by  Eng- 
lish volunteers. 


76  THE   TELEGKAPH   IN  WAR. 

Experiments  recently  made  go  to  show  that  the  tele- 
phone will  probably  also  prove  a  valuable  adjunct  in 
military  operations. 

But  to  our  civil  war,  which  affords  much  interesting 
material  whose  insertion  is  forbidden  by  lack  of  space. 

THE   CIVIL  WAE. 

General  Sherman  has  written:  "For  the  rapid  trans- 
mission of  orders  in  an  army  covering  a  large  space  of 
ground,  the  magnetic  telegraph  is  far  the  best,  though 
usually  the  paper  and  pencil,  with  good  mounted  or- 
derlies, answer  every  purpose.  I  have  little  faith  in 
the  signal  service  by  flags  and  torches  (though  we  al- 
ways used  them),  because  almost  invariably  when  they 
were  most  needed  the  view  was  cut  off  by  intervening 
trees  or  by  mists  and  fogs.  There  was  one  notable  in- 
stance in  my  experience,  however,  when  the  signal  flags 
carried  a  message  of  vital  importance  over  the  heads  of 
Hood's  army,  which  had  interposed  between  me  and 
Altoona  and  broken  the  telegraph  wires — as  recorded 
in  my  'Eecollections;'  but  the  value  of  the  magnetic 
telegraph  in  war  cannot  be  exaggerated,  as  was  illus- 
trated by  the  perfect  concert  of  action  between  the 
armies  in  Virginia  and  in  Georgia  in  all  1864.  Hardly  a 
day  intervened  when  General  Grant  did  not  know  the 
exact  state  of  facts  with  me,  more  than  1,500  miles  off  as 
the  wires  ran.  On  the  field  a  thin  insulated  wire 
may  be  run  on  improvised  stakes,  or  from  tree  to  tree, 
for  six  or  more  miles  in  a  couple  of  hours,  and  I  have 
seen  operators  so  skillful  that  by  cutting  the  wire  they 


THE    TELEGRAPH    IN  WAR.  77 

would  receive  a  message  from  a  distant  station  with 
their  tongues.  As  a  matter  of  course  the  ordinary  com- 
mercial wires  along  the  railways  form  the  usual  tele- 
graph lines  for  an  army,  and  these  are  easily  repaired 
and  extended  as  the  army  advances,  but  each  army  and 
wing  should  have  a  small  corps  of  skilled  men  to  put 
up  the  field  wire  and  take  it  down  when  done.  This  is 
far  better  than  the  signal  flags  and  torches.  Our  com- 
mercial telegraph  lines  will  always  supply  for  war 
enough  skillful  operators." 

ORIGIN   OF    THE   U.    S.    MILITARY   TELEGRAPH. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  riots  in  Baltimore,  April  19th, 
1861.  the  rebels,  by  destroying  railroads,  burning 
bridges,  and  tearing  down  lines  of  telegraph,  succeeded 
in  cutting  off  all  communication  between  Washington 
and  the  loyal  States. 

The  object  was  to  prevent  reinforcements  from  reach- 
ing Washington,  so  that  the  rebel  leaders  might  con- 
centrate their  forces  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  and 
demand  the  surrender  of  the  Capital  before  the  Gov- 
ernment could  summon  sufficient  aid  to  its  defense. 

The  work  of  rebuilding  the  destroyed  property  was 
intrusted  to  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott,  the  well-known 
late  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  Under 
his  direction  the  rails  were  soon  relaid,  bridges  rebuilt, 
and  new  telegraph  wire  erected. 

A  party  of  four  telegraph  operators  was  organized  in 
Pennsylvania,  April  25th,  1861,  and  at  once  started  for 
Washington,  which  city  they  reached  by  a  circuitous 


78 


THE    TELEGRAPH    IN  WAR. 


route  on  the  27th.  This  quartet  formed  the  nucleus  of 
the  United  States  Military  Telegraph,  many  operators 
from  different  parts  of  the  country  being  afterward 
added. 

COST    OF    THE    SERVICE    DURING   THE   WAK. 

During  the  Eebellion  there  were  constructed  and 
operated  about  15,000  miles  of  military  telegraph.  The 
cost  of  the  service  from  May  1st,  1861,  to  Dec.  1,  1862. 
was  about  $22,000  per  month.  During  the  year  1863 
it  averaged  $38,500  per  month.  In  1864,  the  telegraph 
was  greatly  extended,  and  the  cost  reached  $93,500  per 
month.  The  total  expenditure  during  the  year  ending 
June  30th,  1865,  was  $1,360,000;  and  the  total  expend- 
iture from  May  1st,  1861,  to  June  30th,  1865,  footed 
up  $2,655,500. 

THE    DUTIES    OF    CTPHEK    OPERATORS. 

Throughout  the  war  the  cipher  operators  connected 
with  the  United  States  Military  Telegraph,  under  Gen- 
erals Eckert  and  Stager,  were  at  all  army  headquarters. 
Their  duties  were  confidential  and  very  important,  inas- 
much as  ah'  military  movements  ordered  by  General 
Grant  were  transmitted  through  them.  They  were  in 
possession  of  intended  army  and  navy  expeditions 
sometimes  weeks  before  commenced,  and,  had  they  not 
been  patriotic  and  truly  loyal,  could  have  defeated  the 
Union  armies  and  delayed  their  final  triiimph.  These 
quiet,  unassuming  gentlemen  were  very  poorly  paid, 
and  frequently  not  well  provided  for.  However,  they 
did  not  complain  of  their  hardships,  but  worked  on 


THE   TELEGRAPH   IN  WAS.  79 

faithfully  until  the  Rebellion  was  crushed.  The  oper- 
ators, it  may  be  added,  were  not  commissioned,  nor 
even  borne  on  the  army  rolls,  and  having  no  discharges 
from  the  service,  will  not  be  remembered  by  the  coun- 
try and  their  valuable  services  acknowledged  like  offi- 
cers and  soldiers.  They,  however,  did  their  duty 
nobly,  as  did  also  the  operators  employed  in  less  re- 
sponsible positions.  The  telegraphic  service  employed 
in  the  war  received  some  official  recognition  of  their 
patriotic  services  in  the  honor  done  a  few  of  their  re- 
presentative men,  in  accordance  with  the  following 
communication,  which  speaks  for  itself: 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF   MEEITOEIOUS    SERVICES   RENDERED   THE 
GOVERNMENT. 


PON,  >- 

5-     ) 


OFFICE  U.  S.  MILITARY  TELEGRAPH, 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON, 
July  31,  1866. 

D.  H.  BATES,  assistant  manager  department  of  the 
Potomac. 

Charles  A.  Tinker,  chief  operator,  war  department. 

Albert  B.  Chandler,  cipher  and  disbursing  clerk,  war 
department. 

A.  H.  Caldwell,  chief  operator,  army  of  the  Potomac. 

Dennis  Doren,  superintendent  of  construction,  depart- 
ment of  the  Potomac. 

Frank  Stewart,  cipher  clerk,  war  department. 

George  W.  Baldwin,  cipher  clerk,  war  department. 

Richard  O'Brien,  chief  operator,  department  of  North 
Carolina. 

George  D.  Sheldon,  chief  operator,  Fortress  Monroe, Va. 


80  THE    TELEGRAPH    IN  WAR. 

M.  V.  B.  Buell,  chief  operator,  Delaware  and  Eastern 

shore  Line. 
John  H.  Emerick,  chief  operator,  army  of  the  James. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  been  instructed  by  the  secretary 
of  war  to  present  to  each  of  you  one  of  the  silver  watches 
which  were  purchased  and  used  to  establish  uniform 
time  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  marked  "U.  S.  Mili- 
tary Telegraph,"  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the  meritor- 
ious and  valuable  services  you  have  rendered  to  the 
government  during  the  war,  while  under  my  direction, 
as  an  employe  of  the  United  States  Military  Telegraph. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  comply  with  these 
instructions,  and  I  take  this  occasion  to  thank  you,  for 
myself,  for  your  faithful  performance  of  the  important 
trusts  which  have  been  confided  to  you  in  the  various 
capacities  in  which  you  have  served,  and  especially  as 
"cipher  operators." 

Tours,  very  truly, 

THOMAS  T.  ECKERT, 
Ass't  Sec'y  of  War,  and  Sup't  U.  S.  Mil.  Tel. 

AN  OPERATOR'S  READY  WIT. 

Instances  well  nigh  innumerable  could  be  given  of 
the  ingenuity  manifested  by  operators  under  circum- 
stances of  danger,  and  which,  as  in  the  one  here  cited, 
proved  of  great  value  to  the  patriotic  cause.  When  the 
rebel  General  Morgan  made  his  great  raid  through  In- 
diana and  Ohio  he  captured  a  Union  operator,  and  com- 
pelled him  to  telegraph,  in  General  Lew  Wallace's 


THE    TELEGRAPH    IN  WAR. 


81 


name,  to  Cincinnati,  asking  how  many  regular  troops 
were  in  that  city.  Morgan  read  by  "sound,"  and  there- 
fore the  operator  did  not  dare  to  intimate  that  he  was 
under  duress,  and  could  only  venture  to  add  an  extra 
initial  to  his  own  signature.  The  receiving  operator  at 
Cincinnati  knew  that  Morgan  was  in  that  neighbor- 
hood, and  suspecting,  from  the  extra  initial  letter,  that 
all  was  not  right,  replied,  greatly  exaggerating  the 
force  of  regulars ;  and  the  consequence  was  that  Mor- 
gan changed  his  route  to  a  circuit  of  twenty  miles  be- 
yond the  city,  and  thus  saved  it  from  a  sack,  and  the 
probable  loss  of  millions  of  dollars. 

HEROIC  COURAGE  OF  AN  OPERATOR. 

Great  Falls  was  a  Union  picket  post,  where  Federal 
troops  watched  rebel  movements  on  the  Virginia  side 
of  the  Potomac.  The  well-known  telegrapher,  shice 
deceased,  Ed.  Conway,  a  Canadian,  was  government 
operator.  One  afternoon  the  United  States  pickets 
were  withdrawn.  The  rebels  thought  it  was  a  good 
opportunity  to  try  the  range  of  their  guns;  so,  coming 
in,  a  considerable  number  of  them  began  to  fire  away 
at  the  telegraph  building,  wherein  Conway  was  bewail- 
ing the  condition  of  his  finances.  Shells  flew  thick  and 
fast  around  the  building — steps  and  porch  were  soon 
blown  away,  but  the  plucky  telegrapher  heeded  it  not. 
They  mixed  a  volley  of  musketry  with  the  firing  of 
shell,  but  this  only  caused  him  to  gather  up  his  three 
cents  and  a  button,  place  them  in  his  pocket,  and 
whistle  "Johnny  went  for  a  soger."  A  quantity  of 
6 


32  THE    TELEGRAPH   IN  WAE. 

bullets  came  unceremoniously  into  his  room,  and  as 
unceremoniously  as  they  had  come  in  he  went  to  work 
digging  them  out  of  the  partition,  to  be  saved  as  tro- 
phies. Only  when  the  rebels  began  crossing  the  river 
did  he  consider  it  worth  while  to  seek  other  quarters. 
Such  courage  has  rarely  been  equalled,  even  by  men 
accustomed  to  the  vicissitudes  of  war. 

NERVOUS  OPERATORS. 

On  the  night  of  May  23d,  1861,  the  night  before  the 
occupation  of  Alexandria  by  the  Federal  troops,  the 
Union  operators  at  the  Chain  Bridge,  Woodhouse  and 
Jacques,  seeing  a  great  stir  among  the  soldiery, 
imagined  at  once  that  preparations  were  being  made 
for  a  retreat  instead  of  a  victorious  advance,  and 
at  once  telegraphed  to  Mr.  Strouse,  the  superin- 
tendent, that  something  was  up,  and,  fearing  a  retreat, 
they  had  no  means  of  escape  unless  he  immediately 
sent  them  two  horses.  Danger  was  at  hand,  and  he ' 
alone  could  protect  them  from  an  infuriated  enemy; 
their  lives  should  be  at  his  disposal  if  the  necessary 
protection  was  forthcoming.  The  horses  were  not 
sent,  however,  nor  were  their  lives  sacrificed;  on  the 
contrary,  they  are  living  to-day. 

A  FUNNY  WAR   STORY. 

"Agitator"  told  a  good  story  in  The  Telegrapher, 
how  that  during  the  early  part  of  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber, 1863,  General  Sherman,  then  commanding  the  15th 


THE   TELEGRAPH   IN  WAS.  CO 

Army  Corps,  was  making  a  forced  march  across  the 
country  from  Memphis  to  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  to  sup- 
port Gen.  Rosecrans,  who  had  been  partially  defeated 
at  Stone  River.  Upon  reaching  Elk  River  the  telegraph 
and  cipher  operator  attached  to  General  Sherman's 
staff  received  orders  to  proceed  to  Decherd,  Tenn.,  the 
nearest  telegraph  office,  seventy-five  miles  distant;  send 
important  military  dispatches  to  General  Grant  at  Chat- 
tanooga, receive  replies,  and  hasten  back  to  meet  the 
corps'  advance.  One  hundred  of  the  3d  regular  cavalry 
were  detached  as  an  escort,  and  on  the  third  of  Novem- 
ber set  forth.  As  this  mission  was  important,  no  time 
was  lost  on  the  march,  although  the  roads  were  in  a 
terribly  muddy  condition,  and  great  caution  had  to  be 
observed  against  surprise  by  Confederate  bushwhackers. 
Fast  riding  and  muddy  roads  do  not  add  much  to  the 
outward  appearance  of  man  or  beast,  and  by  the  time 
Decherd  was  reached  the  staff  operator  presented  about 
as  sorry  an  appearance  as  could  well  be  imagined. 

The  operator  pulls  up  in  front  of  the  telegraph  office 
about  four  o'clock  one  very  rainy  afternoon.  Entering, 
he  is  greeted  with  the  familiar  click.  There,  in  a  little 
eight  by  ten  pen,  laboriously  at  work  trying  to  "break" 
some  obstinate  "plug,"  less  experienced  in  telegraphy 
than  himself,  sits  that  nervous,  mischievous  little  sprite, 
Jimmy  Lowe,  the  operator.  Jimmy  is  not  in  the  best 
of  humor  at  this  particular  time,  and  dislikes  to  be  in- 
terrupted "when  in  for  a  fight." 

Thinking  he  is  a  student,  our  friend  inquires  if  the 
operator  is  in,  accompanying  the  inquiry  by  an  awkward 
movement.  "Yes,  I  am  the  operator.  What  do  you 
want!" 


84 


THE    TELEGRAPH    IN   WAR. 


Now,  the  chance  for  a  good  practical  joke  could  not 
be  resisted  by  our  horseman,  therefore  he  quickly 
decides  to  have  a  little  fun  at  Jimmy's  expense. 

"What  sort  of  a  clicking  affair  is  that  'ar?" 
he  enquired,  pointing  to  the  register,  with  its  pon- 
derous weight  and  paper  tape. 

"That  is  the  telegraph,"  says  Jimmy,  "and  I  am 
the  operator.  Do  you  want  to  send  a  message  ?  If 
not,  don't  bother  me,  but  go  and  get  some  of  that 
mud  off  from  you."  Jimmy  turns  away  with  a  look  of 
disgust,  and  proceeds  to  renew  his  battle  over  the 
wire.  It  will  here  be  proper  to  state  that  Jimmy  kept 
a  sutler's  stand  on  a  small  scale  in  one  corner  of  the 
office,  and,  as  he  afterward  acknowledged,  was  suspi- 
cious that  our  friend  had  an  eye  on  a  quantity  of  plug 
tobacco  behind  the  counter. 

After  a  great  many  questions  relative  to  the  modus 
opcrandi,  all  of  which  worked  Jimmy's  nerves  up  to  a 
perceptible  tremble,  our  staff  man  concluded  to  bring 
the  matter  to  a  focus. 

"  See  here,  stranger,  p'rhaps  I  kin  help  yer.  Just 
let  me  in  thar,  will  yer?  That  tarnel  clatter  has 
been  agoing  on  long  enough.  You  won't,  eh  ?"  With 
one  stride  he  clears  the  board  railing  and  brings  up 
by  Jimmy's  side,  with  open  mouth  gaping  at  the 
instrument. 

Jimmy  is  stormed  in  his  stronghold;  confounded, 
and  not  knowing  what  to  say,  prudently  says  nothing. 
He,  however,  involuntarily  drops,  his  hold  of  the  key, 
and  has  half  a  mind  to  close  in  with  his  muddy  tor- 
mentor, but  does  not.  Mr.  Cavalry-man  sidles  around 


THE   TELEGRAPH   IN   WAS.  85 

and  gets  hold  of  the  key.  Jimmy  is  now  nearly  fran- 
tic; visions  of  Confederates  in  disguise  flit  through 
his  mind,  and  he  looks  around  for  chances  of  escape. 
He  can  read  just  enough  by  sound  to  know  that  our 
friend  has  given  a  signal  for  precedence  over  the  wire. 
He  hears  him  "call"  Chattanooga;  he  hears  Ch. 
answer.  Oh,  if  he  could  only  get  hold  of  the  key  now 
and  warn  Ch.  of  danger.  He  knows  our  muddy  friend 
is  a  Confederate  operator  in  disguise.  It  is  now  his 
turn  to  stare  with  gaping  mouth. 

Our  friend  coolly  transmits  the  dispatches,  politely 
calls  for  pen,  ink  and  blanks,  and  receives  the  long 
replies  without  a  break,  and  without  using  the  paper 
tape.  Jimmy  cannot  make  out  the  purport  of  what  is 
going  on  over  the  wire,  and  our  friend,  by  hiding  the 
blanks  with  his  hand  while  receiving,  keeps  him  in  the 
dark.  All  is  soon  finished.  The  dispatches  are  folded, 
placed  in  an  inner  pocket ;  and  with  many  thanks  for 
the  courtesy  extended,  our  friend  retires  from  the 
office,  mounts  his  stalwart  steed,  and  is  soon  cantering 
off  to  meet  his  general.  It  afterward  came  to  light 
that  Decherd  asked  Chattanooga  some  queer  questions 
over  the  wire  soon  after  the  "  raid." 

ANOTHEB, 

which  came  from  Jefferson  City,  Missouri,  tells  that 
during  the  reign  of  terror  in  the  county  distinguished 
by  including  that  city  within  its  limits,  caused  by 
Price's  raid,  the  depot  at  Jefferson  City  caught  fire 
and  was  burned.  Consequently,  the  operator  was 
obliged  to  find  other  rooms  for  the  telegraph  office, 


86  THE    TELEGRAPH    IN    WAE. 

and,  for  want  of  better,  located  temporarily  in  Dad 
Chevron's  carpenter  shop.  One  day,  during  the 
absence  of  the  operator,  all  the  instruments  com- 
menced and  for  fifteen  minutes  kept  up  a  terrible 
ticking,  which  frightened  the  old  man,  who  had  not 
made  the  science  of  electricity  the  great  study  of  his 
life.  He  thought  it  must  be  a  call  for  his  office,  and 
probably  conveyed  news  of  Price  and  his  forces. 
Making  a  dive  for  one  of  the  instruments,  he  caught 
the  "  ground- wire "  firmly  between  his  teeth,  and 
shrieked  out :  "  Operator's  gone  to  dinner ;  be  back  in 
half  an  hour!"  and  at  the  same  instant  received  a  shock 
from  the  wire  coming  into  contact  with  his  moist 
tongue  that  he  will  remember  to  his  dying  day. 

POOR  QUARTERS  FOR  TELEGRAPHERS. 

When  Operators  Lathrop  and  Maize  went  to  open  the 
office  at  Langleys,  Va.,  for  the  use  of  General  Smith's 
division,  they  found  that  no  provision  had  been  made 
for  them,  and  accordingly  went  to  General  Smith  to 
have  him  point  out  their  location.  The  general  eyed 
them  for  a  few  minutes  with  a  scrutiny  worthy  of  a 
Bow  street  detective,  and  then  made  a  reconnoissance 
for  a  proper  location.  After  a  faithful  survey  of  half 
an  hour,  he  espied  an  old  shed,  raised  some  feet  from 
the  ground,  in  the  basement  of  which  were  some 
horses,  cows  and  pigs,  and  above  these  a  room  in 
which  the  cook  kept  his  poultry.  This  latter  apart- 
ment he  ordered  to  be  divided  by  a  partition,  one  side 
to  be  occupied-  by  the  operators,  the  other  for  poultry. 

A   PROVIDENT   OPERATOR. 

During  the  war  operators  suffered  their  share  of 


THE   TELEGRAPH   IN   WAR  87 

the  discomforts  and  hardships  incident  to  campaign- 
ing. The  young  gentleman  immortalized  in  the 
following  story  had  an  eye  to  future  necessities  in 
his  preparations ;  and  who  will  blame  him  ? 

Two  days  after  the  battle  of  Ball's  Bluff  (October 
21,  1861),  whereiu  the  Union  troops  were  repulsed 
and  Colonel  E.  D.  Baker,  the  patriotic  senator,  was 
killed,  a  telegraph  office  was  opened  at  Edward's 
Ferry,  on  the  upper  Potomac.  Mr.  Tinker  and  a 
white-haired  youth  named  Burnker  were  sent  to  the 
office  to  "  do  "  the  telegraphic  honors.  The  office  was 
located  in  a  hut,  vacated  but  a  short  time  prior  to 
their  arrival  by  a  lame  contraband.  Two  days  only 
did  the  office  remain  at  the  Ferry,  for  no  sooner  did 
General  Banks,  with  his  column,  leave  there  and  return 
to  his  former  headquarters,  near  Darnestown,  Mary- 
land, than  the  boys  thought  that  "  discretion  was  the 
better  part  of  valor,"  and,  turning  their  backs  to  the 
enemy,  pulled  up  traps  and  made  the  best  time  on 
record  in  rejoining  General  Banks. 

Burnker,  when  preparing  to  leave  home  to  join  the 
U.  S.  Military  Telegraph,  wisely  foresaw  that  circum 
stances  might  occasion  his  being  sent  to  some  distant 
camp  where  forage  for  telegraphers  would  not  be  sup- 
plied by  the  quartermasters,  and  filled  a  trunk  with 
eatables.  Arriving  in  Washington,  he  found  it  neces- 
sary to  make  his  way  to  Edward's  Ferry,  and,  having 
no  means  for  their  transport,  to  leave  his  commissary 
stores  behind  him.  Being  absent  ten  days,  and  no 
prospect  of  being  able  to  have  his  provision  sent  him, 
he  requested  one  of  the  operators  in  Washington  to 


OO  THE  TELEGRAPH  IN  WAR. 

open  the  trunk  and  take  care  of  the  contents.  The 
trunk  being  opened,  disclosed  to  the  gaze  of  the  hun- 
gry opener  seven  pounds  of  pound-cake,  six  pounds  of 
fruit-cake,  one  peck  of  apples,  half  a  bushel  of  chest- 
nuts, a  bologna  sausage,  a  head  of  cabbage,  and  six 
turnips.  On  the  fact  becoming  known  that  he  was 
such  an  excellent  provider,  the  position  of  quartermaster 
and  commissary  of  the  corps  was  tendered  him ;  but, 
possessing  the  modesty  for  which  all  telegraphers  are 
proverbial,  he  respectfully  declined  the  position. 

THE   END RICHMOND    TAKEN. 

No  message  ever  sent  by  telegraph  was  of  so  much 
national  interest  as  the  one  which  William  E.  Kettles, 
an  operator  in  the  service  of  the  government  at  the 
war  department  in  Washington  (at  the  present  writing 
on  the  staff  of  the  Boston,  Mass.,  Western  Union  main 
office),  received  from  Richmond  on  the  morning  of  the 
3d  of  April,  1865.  Mr.  Kettles,  then  a  mere  boy  of  fif- 
teen, was  working  the  Fortress  Monroe  and  City 
Point  wire  at  Washington.  Shortly  after  9.30,  the 
Washington  and  Cherrystone  operators  were  engaged 
on  a  long  message,  when  suddenly  both  men  were 
taken  aback  by  what  seemed  to  be  a  most  foolish  de- 
mand from  Fortress  Monroe  :  "  Turn  down  for  Rich- 
mond, quick ! "  Had  a  flash  of  lightning  struck 
through  the  walls  at  that  moment,  the  shock  could  not 
have  been  greater  than  it  was  on  the  part  of  every 
man  in  the  room. 

There  was  great  alacrity  in  turning  down  the  adjust- 


THE  TELEGRAPH  IN  WAR.  89 

ment.  There  were  trembling  fingers  while  it  was  being 
done,  and  there  was  a  gathering  around  of  many  oper- 
ators, with  curiosity,  suspense,  and  impatience  com- 
bined, to  see  what  it  meant.  Sure  enough !  the  signals 
from  the  operator  in  Richmond  to  the  operator  in 
Washington  were  bounding  along  the  line.  No  signal 
was  ever  answered  more  promptly.  Then  came  the 
question : 

"  Do  you  get  me  well  ?  " 

"  I  do  ;  go  ahead !  " 

"  All  right.    Here's  the  first  message  for  four  years : " 

"  RICHMOND,  VA.,  April  3d,  1865. 
"  Hon.  E.  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War  : 

"  We  entered  Richmond  at  8  o'clock  this  morning. 

"  G.  WEITZEL, 
"  Brigadier-General  Commanding.." 

Mr.  Kettles  concedes  that  he  copied  the  message, 
but  he  could  never  tell  how.  He  remembered  starting 
up  from  his  chair  and  upsetting  inkstand  and  instru- 
ment ;  of  kicking  over  a  tin  that  sat  at  the  fire-place,  in 
order  to  make  a  noise  ;  of  rushing  for  General  Eckert's 
room,  where  sat  President  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Tinker,  the 
cipher  clerk,  talking  in  a  low  tone.  As  Kettles  was 
about  to  hand  the  message  to  Mr.  Tinker,  the  President 
caught  sight  of  the  body  words,  and,  with  one  motion 
and  two  strides,  message  and  President  were  out  of 
sight  on  the  way  to  Secretary  Stanton's  room.  Mr. 
Tinker  and  everybody  else  were  dumbfounded.  Ket- 


90  THE  TELEGRAPH  IN  WAR. 

ties  quietly  returned  to  his  instrument,  walking  like 
one  in  a  dream ;  proceeded  mechanically  to  turn  the 
inkstand  right  side  up,  and  to  straighten  up  his  over- 
turned machine.  Then  he  sat  down  in  his  chair,  and 
stared  before  him  in  blank  amazement.  Around  him 
were  the  other  operators,  every  man  alike  flustered,  and 
unable  to  get  their  minds  back  to  their  work,  or  to  utter 
connected  words. 

In  less  than  one-quarter  of  the  tune  it  takes  to  write 
this,  the  operating  room  was  filled  with  officers  and 
sub-officers.  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Stanton 
came  in  and  shook  hands  with  every  one  in  the  room 
and  then  every  one  in  the  room  shook  hands  with  one 
another,  and  then  with  the  President  and  Secretary 
again.  Then  they  all  crowded  around  the  Fortress  Mon- 
roe instrument,  hungry  for  more  news.  Kettles  sat  at 
his  instrument  while  questions  were  showered  in  on 
him  from  every  mouth.  He  was  asked  more  questions 
in  those  ten  minutes  than  he  will  be  likely  to  be  ever 
asked  again  in  that  space  of  time.  At  last  the  inform- 
ation came  that  Eichmond  had  disconnected  itself  for 
the  present.  All  retired  to  General  Eckert's  room  ex- 
cept Mr.  Tinker  and  Kettles,  who  stood  by  the  window 
endeavoring  to  hear  themselves  think.  Neither  of  them 
had  drawn  a  perceptible  breath  for  ten  minutes.  Out- 
side were  the  broad  grounds  of  the  department  build- 
ings. Looking  from  the  operating-room  window  the 
prospect  was  clear  ;  not  a  single  person  was  to  be  seen. 
Suddenly  a  Georgetown  horse-car  appeared  in  the  dis- 
tance. On  it  came  at  the  usual  rate.  Near  the  build- 
ing it  stopped.  A  man  got  off,  and  started  with  slow, 


THE  TELEGRAPH  IN  WAR.  91 

leisurely  steps  up  the  center  walk  to  tlie  door.  Inside 
the  operating  room  the  thrilled  operators  looked  out 
on  his  slow,  steady  pace,  and  could  scarcely  contain 
themselves  at  his  unconcern.  He  was  meditating — ac- 
tually meditating— -as  though  there  was  nothing  to 
throw  off  his  hat  for  and  cheer  till  he  was  hoarse. 
Keeping  on,  he  presently  lifted  his  head  and  looked  at 
the  window.  Tinker  was  there  and  knew  him. 

"Any  news  ?  "  he  casually  inquired. 

Tinker  leaned  far  out  of  the  window  :  "  Richmond's 
fallen  !  "  he  said. 

No  tongue  can  describe  the  features  of  that  man 
while  he  was  coming'  to  himself.  He  turned  red  and 
white  by  turns,  till,  suddenly  realizing  the  meaning  of 
the  words,  he  waved  his  arms,  then  turned  and  ran. 
.  Down  the  street  he  ran,  spreading  the  news  to  every- 
one he  met.  Soon  there  was  a  great  crowd.  The  ex- 
citement rose  ;  the  people  seemed  almost  wild.  The 
War  Department  was  soon  besieged.  Outside  was  a 
multitude.  Inside  were  excited  officers,  clerks,  opera- 
tors, and  an  excited  President.  The  outsiders  looked 
in  at  the  insiders,  and  the  insiders  looked  out  at  the 
outsiders.  Questions  came  hot  and  fast  from  the  mul- 
titude, and  answers  were  shouted  back  from  every  man 
who  could  get  lu's  head  to  one  of  the  two  windows. 
The  crowd  got  the  news  fairly  in  its  mind  and  then 
seemed  to  want  three  cheers.  The  three  became  four. 
Then  they  wanted  speeches.  They  got  them.  Half  a 
dozen  speeches  were  under  way  in  less  than  that  many 
minutes.  Some  were  good  ones.  Andrew  Johnson 
was  tLere.  He  was  saying  :  "God  bless  the  old  flag ! 
If  I  was  President  of  the  United  States " 


THE  TELEGRAPH  IN  "WAR. 


At  this  point  something  exciting  occurred.  Secre- 
tary Stanton  entered  the  operating-room  leaning  on 
General  Eckert's  arm.  General  Eckert  pointed  out  to 
him  the  boy  who  had  received  the  message.  They 
were  formally  introduced.  The  next  moment  Kettles 
found  himself  seized  by  the  secretary  and  held  at  arm's 
length  out  of  the  window  above  the  crowd.  The  secre- 
tary called  to  the  crowd  that  this  was  the  young  man 
who  had  received  the  dispatch  of  the  fall  of  Richmond. 
The  crowd  wanted  a  speech  from  him.  Kettles  gave 
them  a  speech  in  a  few  words,  appropriate  and  pointed, 
for  he  was  in  the  humor. 

Then  followed  other  scenes.  Fire-engines  were 
brought  out — anything  to  make  a  noise.  In  the  even- 
ing the  city  was  ablaze  with  illuminations.  Kettles, 
who  is  now  an  operator  in  Boston,  says  he  can  never 
forget  how  Father  Abraham  started  for  Secretary  Stan- 
ton's  door  after  receiving  the  dispatch — hop,  skip,  and 
jump — shouting :  "  Clear  the  track !  " 

THE   ASSASSINATION. 

Joy,  however,  was  speedily  turned  into  mourning.  A 
writer  in  the  Albany  Evening  Journal  eloquently  tells 
the  story  of  the  great  crime  of  April  14th,  1865,  which 
plunged  the  nation  into  grief  unutterable  : 

" One  calm  night  in  the  springtime,  when  the  silver 
stars  were  gleaming  out  pensively,  and  scarcely  a  foot- 
fall on  the  pavement  of  Broadway  or  State  street  broke 
the  stillness  that  reigned,  the  cupola-man  on  the  City 
Hall  had  intoned  the  midnight  hour,  and  added  :  'All's 
well,'  when  a  sudden,  nervous  call  of  '  rep,  rep,'  aroused 
all  on  the  line  from  "Washington  to  the  red  man's  home 


THE    TELEGRAPH    IN  WAR.  93 

in  the  far  west,  and  to  the  soutlnvest,  where  the  green 
grass  waved  in  luxuriance,  and  the  little  birds  twittered 
their  matin  songs  from  among  the  boughs  of  blossom- 
ing trees,  as  well  as  to  the  icy  fastnesses  of  Halifax  and 
the  Canadas — to  all  alike  came  the  harrowing  words: 
'  Tis  rumored  that  the  President  was  shot  at  the  thea- 
ter to-night ! '  How  our  hearts  seemed  rent  asunder, 
and  the  great  tears  swelled  up  to  the  eyes  that  for 
years  previous  were  strangers  to  such  outward  expres- 
sions of  sorrow.  Soon  after  another  message  came, 
saying :  '  Suppress  that  rumor  sent  you ;  it's  all  false." 
"What  muttered  threats  and  words  followed  one  an- 
other over  the  wire  to  headquarters  after  the  reception 
of  this  latter  will  never  be  known  but  to  those  in  at- 
tendance that  sad  and  fatal  night.  Again  all  was  quiet, 
and  the  clock  ticked  away  the  moments,  and  the  hands 
sped  around  to  the  morning  hours,  when  'rep, 'rep' 
was  again  sounded,  and  the  brass  instruments  clicked 
out  an  'official,'  giving  the  whole  dark  and  bloody 
tragedy  of  the  assassination  of  the  lamented  President. 
Sad  and  wan  was  the  face  of  our  little  report-boy, 
'  Patsey,'  as  he  handed  into  the  offices  of  the  morning 
papers  the  heart-rending  account;  and  nervously  the 
hands  of  the  weary  compositors  picked  up  the  letters 
that,  set  into  form,  recorded  the  assassination  of  Pres- 
ident Lincoln  on  the  evening  of  April  14th,  1865." 

THE    FRANCO-GERMAN  WAB. 

We  shall  conclude  this  chapter  with   two   reminis- 
cences of   the  struggle  of  1870-1,  the  first  reflecting 


94  THE    TELEGBAJPH   IN  WAK. 

glory  upon  the  Prussian  arms  and,  we  fear,  some  dis- 
credit upon  our  Gallic  friends,  but  the  latter  redeeming 
this  disgrace  by  the  heroism  of  a  French  female  operator. 

At  Manheim  there  was  lately  on  exhibition  a 
telegraphic  apparatus  taken  from  the  French,  which 
was  obtained  in  the  following  manner:  A  certain  dra- 
goon of  the  Baden  Guards,  by  name  Muench,  with  two 
of  his  comrades,  was  sent  to  reconnoitre  as  far  as  the 
Vosges.  On  their  entering  the  village  of  Kaon 
.1'Etampe  the  inhabitants  fled  in  every  direction,  with 
cries  of  "The  Prussians!  the  Prussians!"  and  shut 
themselves  up  in  their  houses;  Thus  left  masters  of 
the  town,  the  dragoons  rode  to  the  town  hall  and  sum- 
moned the  mayor.  They  asked  him  where  the  tele- 
graphic bureau  was  located.  He  pointed  it  out,  and 
they  went  to  it,  and  Muench,  singly,  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  assembled  city  council,  cut  the  wires, 
unscrewed  the  apparatus,  and  buckled  it  to  his 
saddle. 

The  French  government  has  recently  conferred  pie 
military  medal  upon  a  young  woman  named  Mdlle 
Dodu,  employed  in  the  telegraph  office  at  Pithiviers 
during  the  war  of  1870.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Ger 
man  forces  in  that  town  they  at  once,  as  was  their 
wont,  took  possession  of  the  telegraph  office,  and  rele- 
gated Mdlle  Dodu,  who  was  in  charge,  to  a  room  on 
the  first  floor.  The  wires  passed  through  this  room, 
and  Mdlle  Dodu  managed  to  tap  them  and  convey  the 
information  transmitted  over  them  to  the  sub-prefect. 
In  this  way  she  kept  the  French  military  authorities  cog- 
nizant of  the  designs  and  movements  of  the  enemy. 


95 


CABLE  TELEGRAPHS. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  greatest  triumph,  so  far, 
in  ocean  telegraphy — the  connecting  of  the  old  and 
new  worlds  by  cable,  an  account  of  which  it  may  be 
well  to  precede  with  a  few  general  remarks  on  ocean 
telegraphy. 

Previously  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  under- 
taking, which,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  not  success- 
ful in  the  earlier  attempts,  submarine  telegraph  cables 
had  been  laid  and  worked,  but  they  were  of  compara- 
ively  little  length. 

THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE 

is  the  one  which  most  interests  us  Americans,  and 
,vhose  importance  in  business  and  the  affairs  of  nations 
cannot  be  over-estimated,  especially  since  duplex  work- 
ing has  become  an  accomplished  fact. 

THE   FIRST    SUGGESTION    OF    AN   ATLANTIC    TELEGRAPH. 

An  old  periodical  contains  the  following  paragraph, 
which  is  given  here  as  embodying  the  first  idea  of  tele- 
graphic communication  between  Europe  and  this 
continent. 

"Mr.  J.  B.  Lindsay,  of  Dundee,  who  is  at  present 
in  Glasgow,  propounds  a  startling  theory,  that  of 
forming  an  electric  telegraph  betwixt  Great  Britain 
and  America,  without  employing  submerged  wires,  or 


96  CABLE    TELEGRAPHS. 

wires  of  any  kind  At  a  meeting  in  the  Athenaeum 
Mr.  Lindsay  illustrated  his  method.  A  large  trough 
of  salt  water  was  employed,  across  which  he  trans 
mitted  the  electric  current,  without  any  metallic  con- 
ductor, the  water  itself  being  the  only  medium  of 
communication.  Mr.  Lindsay  explained  that  he  had 
obtained  similar  results  over  a  breadth  of  sixty  feet  of 
water.  Some  calculations  have  been  made  in  regard 
to  the  expense,  and  Mr.  Lindsay  computes,  according 
to  his  present  information,  that  the  cost  of  the  neces- 
sary battery  and  land  wires  to  establish  a  communica- 
tion between  England  and  America  would  not  exceed 
sixty  thousand  pounds  ($300,000)." 

THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    ATLANTIC*   CABLE. 

The  Atlantic  cable  is  said  to  have  originated  with 
Cyrus  W.  Field,  and  was  suggested  to  him  in  this 
way:  A  Roman  Catholic  bishop  of  St.  Johns.  New- 
foundland, Bishop  Muloch,  advanced  the  idea  that  a 
line  be  built  connecting  St.  John  with  the  mainland, 
and  then  running  a  line  of  fast  steamers  to  the  west 
coast  of  Ireland,  thus  bringing  America  within  a  week 
of  Europe. 

In  1852,  a  Mr.  F.  N.  Gisborne,  acting  upon  this 
suggestion,  commenced  the  erection  of  a  line  from 
St.  Johns,  through  four  hundred  miles  of  dense 
forests  to  Cape  Ray.  there  to  connect  with  the  inland 
lines.  The  following  year,  however,  a  short  cable 
which  he  had  laid  gave  out,  and  those  who  had  invest- 
ed money  in  the  concern  withheld  further  support. 


CABLE   TELEGRAPHS.  97 

Work  had  therefore  to  be  suspended.  In  1854, 
Mr.  Gi  shorn  e  came  to  New  York,  and  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Cyrus  W.  Field,  who  was  much  inter- 
ested in  the  enterprise. 

While  studying  this  subject,  and  turning  over  the 
globe  in  his  library,  the  idea  flashed  across  Mr.  Field's 
mind:  "Wiry  not  carry  the  line  across  the  ocean?"  He 
went  to  St.  Johns,  Newfoundland,  in  March,  1854,  and 
obtained  from  the  legislature  of  that  colony  a  charter 
granting  an  exclusive  right  for  fifty  years  to  establish 
a  telegraph  from  the  continent  of  America  to  New- 
foundland, and  thence  to  Europe. 

THE   ORGANIZATION   OF    THE    FIRST    ATLANTIC    CABLE 
COMPANY. 

On  March  10, 1854,  articles  of  association  were  sign- 
ed. A  company  of  five  gentlemen  sat  in  Mr.  Field's 
parlor  in  Gramercy  Park,  and  entered  into  the  project. 
They  were  Peter  Cooper,  Moses  Taylor,  Marshall  O. 
Roberts,  Chandler  White,  and  Cyrus  W.  Field.  Peter 
Cooper  became  president  of  the  association.  Mr. 
White  subsequently  died,  and  Wilson  G.  Hunt  took 
his  place.  Mr.  Roberts  died  on  September  llth,  1880. 
The  association  was  called  "The  New  York,  Newfound- 
land and  London  Telegraph  Company."  The  com- 
pany's capital  was  $1,500,000,  of  which  Mr.  Field 
subscribed  one  fourth.  A  grant  of  £50,000  to  aid 
the  work  was  secured,  as  well  as  fifty  square  miles  of 
public  land,  with  a  further  grant  of  fifty  more  when 
the  cable  was  laid. 


98  CABLE  TELEGRAPHS. 

It  took  more  than  two  years  to  build  the  land  line 
across  Newfoundland  and  Cape  Breton  Island.  While 
this  was  being  done  Mr.  Field  went  to  Europe  and 
ordered  a  submarine  cable,  to  connect  Cape  Eay  and 
Cape  Breton.  .This  was  sent  out  in  1855,  and  was  lost 
in  a  gale  in  an  attempt  to  lay  it  across  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence.  The  attempt  was  successfully  renewed 
in  1856.  This  cable  cost  $1,000,000. 

LAYING.    THE   CABLE. 

In  that  year  Mr.  Field  again  went  to  London  and 
organized  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company,  to  carry 
the  line  across  the  ocean.  He  secured  from  the 
British  and  American  governments  aid  in  ships,  and 
accompanied  the  expeditions  which  sailed  from  Eng- 
land in  1857  and  1858  for  the  purpose  of  laying  the 
cable  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Twice  the  attempt 
failed,  in  1857  and  again  in  1858.  The  third  attempt 
proved  successful,  and  in  1858  telegraphic  communica- 
tion was  established  between  England  and  America. 

In  forming  the  cable,  the  great  object  was  to  com- 
bine lightness  with  strength.  A  single  strand  is 
capable  of  sustaining  a  weight  of  fifteen  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds.  The  centrifugal  force  of  the  cable  when 
paying  out  had  to  be  carefully  guarded  against.  The 
cable  issued  out  of  the  tanks  at  the  rate  of  six  miles 
per  hour,  and  was  paid  out  by  means  of  a  brake  drum. 
At  the  end  of  the  blocks  weights  were  suspended,  on 
the  regulating  of  which  the  perfection  of  the  paying 
out  depended.  By  watching  the  distance  the  opposite 


CABLE    TELEGRAPHS. 

weights  were  suspended  the  strain  upon  the  cable 
was  ascertained.  Water  offered  a  great  resistance  to 
the  cable.  If  the  cable  was  light  it  would  descend  in 
an  inclined  manner ;  if  bulky,  then  it  would  lie  hori- 
zontally. The  cable  was  three  hours  before  it  reached 
the  bottom,  and  not  before  seventeen  miles  had  been 
paid  out.  If  the  cable,  when  in  the  process  of  picking 
up,  were  drawn  in  straight  line,  it  would  snap;  hence 
the  utility  of  laying  it  slackly. 

THE    FIRST    MESSAGE    TRANSMITTED. 

The  first  message  sent  over  the  Atlantic  cable  was 
the  announcement  of  the  death  of  James  Eddy,  "the 
first  and  best  telegrapher  in  the  United  States,"  as  the 
the  dispatch  published  in  the  Times  said.  So  in- 
credulous were  the  public,  that  doubts  were  expressed 
of  the  genuineness  of  the  news  transmitted,  and  only 
when  a  dispatch  conveying  the  action  of  Parliament 
on  an  important  public  matter  was  verified  by  mail 
two  weeks  afterward,  were  these  dispatches  accepted 
is  real. 

In  a  few  weeks  the  cable  ceased  to  work,  and  this  on 
the  very  day  that  had  been  set  apart  in  the  United 
•States  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  its  completion. 
Although  it  was  again  pronounced  a  failure,  Mr.  Field 
never  lost  faith,  and  made  frequent  trips  to  Europe  to 
resuscitate  the  company.  The  civil  war  broke  out  in 
the  meantime,  and  not  until  1865  was  another  expedi- 
tion prepared.  Submarine  telegraphy  had  been  greatly 
improved,  a  better  cable  was  prepared,  and  the  steam- 


100  CABLE    TELEGRAPHS. 

ship  Great  Eastern  took  it  on  board,  and  sailed  for  the 
American  coast.  Over  twelve  hundred  miles  of  cable 
had  been  laid,  when,  by  a  sudden  lurch  of  the  vessel, 
the  cable  snapped  and  was  lost.  The  bottom  of  the  sea 
was  dragged  for  days  in  search  of  the  broken  end,  and 
the  expedition  returned  to  England.  In  1866,  the 
Great  Eastern  again  sailed  with  a  fresh  cable,  and  two 
thousand  miles  were  safely  stretched  across  the  ocean, 
and  the  communication  perfected  July  27, 1866.  After 
landing  this  the  Great  Eastern  returned  to  the  middle 
of  the  ocean,  and  after  two  months'  search  succeeded 
in  grappling  the  sundered  cable  of  the  year  previous. 
It  was  brought  up  from  a  distance  of  two  miles,  joined 
to  the  cable  on  the  steamship,  and  carried  safely  to 
the  Western  shore.  A  weekly  newspaper,  called  the 
Atlantic  Telegraph,  was  published  on  the  Great  Eastern 
during  these  operations. 

An  amusing  story  is  told  of  a  gentleman  who  beset 
Mr.  Field  at  the  time  when  the  cable  was  sundered 
with  a  proposal  as  to  the  manner  in  which  it  could  be 
best  raised  from  the  ocean.  This  was  to  sink  a  hollow 
tube  in  which  to  go  down  and  seek  after  the  cable. 
Mr.  Field  was  so  annoyed  by  the  continued  calls  at  his 
hotel  that  one  morning  he  told  his  visitor  that  it 
should  be  done,  and  that  the  author  of  the  idea  should 
make  the  first  attempt.  He  never  afterward  saw  the 
gentleman. 

After  twelve  years  of  incessant  labor,  in  which  he 
crossed  the  ocean  nearly  fifty  times,  Mr.  Field  saw  the 
crowning  effort  of  his  life  accomplished.  Congress 


CABLE   TELEGRAPHS.  101 

voted  him  a  gold  medal  with  the  thanks  of  the  nation, 
and  the  prime  minister  of  England  said  that  it  was 
only  the  fact  that  he  was  a  citizen  of  another  country 
that  prevented  him  receiving  high  honors  from  the 
British  government. 

COST    OF    THE    FIRST    CABLE. 

The  first  cable  cost  $1,256,250,  and  the  company's 
expenditures  up  to  December  1,  1858,  amounted  to 
$1,834,500.  Among  the  dispatches  sent  over  the  cable 
was  the  speech  of  the  king  of  Prussia  just  before  the 
Austrian  war.  It  cost  $3,600  to  transmit  it.  This 
cable  has  been  in  running  order  almost  continually 
since  its  successful  completion.  In  1874  work  was 
begun  by  the  "Direct  Cable  Company"  to  lay  a  cable 
between  Ballinskeligs  Bay,  Ireland,  and  Rye,  New 
Hampshire,  by  way  of  Nova  Scotia.  It  was  completed 
in  1875.  "  The  Compagnie  Francaise  du  Telegraph  de 
Paris  a  New  York"  completed,  December  15th,  1879, 
the  laying  of  a  cable  from  Brest,  France,  to  St.  Pierre, 
Miquelon,  and  thence  to  North  Eastham,  Massachus- 
etts, and  an  additional  cable  was  laid  by  the  Anglo- 
American  Company  in  July,  1880. 

RECENT  REMARKABLE  IMPROVEMENTS  IN  CABLE  LAYING. 

The  rapidity  with  which  the  later  cables,  particularly 
the  last  two,  were  laid,  is  in  striking  contrast  with 
the  laying  of  the  earlier  trans-Atlantic  cables.  When 
the  first  attempts  were  made,  the  practicability  of  the 
scheme  appeared  doubtful.  Two  failures  occurred. 


102  CABLE    TELEGRAPHS. 

The  first  cable,  1857-8,  was  defective,  and,  although 
between  August  13th  and  September  1st,  1858,  four 
hundred  messages  were  sent  between  Valentia  and 
the  Newfoundland  coast,  yet  the  rate  of  reception  was 
very  variable,  the  signals  often  unintelligible  and  requir- 
ing repetitions.  After  much  trouble  and  cost,  the 
location  of  the  defect  was  ascertained,  but  all  attempts 
to  recover  the  cable  failed.  In  1865  was  commenced 
the  laying  of  the  second  cable,  and  about  half  of  it 
had  been  paid  out  when  it  broke.  Operations  were 
suspended  until  the  following  year  (1866),  when  a 
stronger  but  lighter  and  more  flexible  cable  was  suc- 
cessfully laid,  the  distance  between  Trinity  Bay  and 
Valentia  being  2,134  miles.  In  1869  the  French 
Atlantic  line  between  Brest  and  St.  Pierre,  and  thence 
to  Duxbury,  Mass.,  went  into  operation,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1875  the  final  splice  of  the  Direct  Cable 
Company's  line  was  made.  Since  the  days  when  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  trans-Atlantic  telegraphy 
appeared  almost  insuperable,  wonderful  strides  have 
been  made  in  the  electric  art,  and  great  facilities  have 
been  introduced  in  the  method  of  paying  out  the 
cable  from  the  ship,  so  that  what  was  formerly  re- 
garded as  a  vast  experiment  has  now  become  a  very 
practicable  work. 

MR.    FIELD    AND    THE    CABLE. 

Mr.  Field's  energetic  labor  was  pursued  with  a  zeal 
which  entailed  heavy  financial  expenditure.  Though 
a  man  of  independent  fortune  when  he  began,  he  em- 


CABLE  TELEGRAPHS.  103 

barked  in  it  so  large  a  portion  of  his  capital  as  nearly 
to  make  shipwreck  of  the  whole.  "While  in  England, 
engaged  in  the  expedition  of  1857,  a  financial  storm 
swept  over  this  country,  and  his  house  suspended; 
but  on  his  return  he  asked  only  for  time,  and  paid  all 
in  full  with  interest.  The  stoppage,  however,  was  a 
heavy  blow,  and,  being  followed  by  a  fire  in  1859  which 
burned  his  store  to  the  ground,  and  by  the  panic  of 
December,  1860,  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war,  he  was  finally  obliged  to  compromise  with  his 
creditors.  Thus  released  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
work  of  his  life.  The  success  of  the  Atlantic  cable 
brought  back  a  portion  of  his  lost  wealth,  when  his 
first  care  was  to  make  good  all  losses  to  others.  He 
addressed  a  letter  to  every  creditor  who  suffered  by 
the  failure  of  his  house  in  1860,  requesting  him  to 
send  a  statement  of  the  amount  compromised,  added 
the  interest  for  nearly  six  years,  and  as  fast  as  pre- 
sented returned  a  check  in  full.  The  whole  amount  is 
stated  to  have  been  $200,000. 

CABLE  OPERATORS. 

These  persons  form  a  class  by  themselves,  requiring 
a  special  education  and  special  adaptability  to  the 
service.  Their  life  is  anythingjbut  a  cheerful  or  social 
one,  for  they  are  usually  located  in  out  of  the  way 
places  on  the  sea  coast,  where  neighbors  are  few  and 
far  between,  and  scarcely  of  a  character  calculated  to 
constitute  an  interesting  and  pleasant  social  circle. 

When  on  duty  they  are  closely  occupied  in  watching 


104  CABLE    TELEGRAPHS. 

and  translating  the  slender  point  of  light  whose  vibra- 
tions convey  to  the  eye  with  them,  as  sound  does  to  the 
ear  of  the  ordinary  telegraph  operator,  the  intelligence 
which  it  is  necessary  to  communicate.  When  off  duty 
their  pleasures  and  recreations  are  few  indeed,  and 
taken  altogether  the  occupation  and  it  surroundings 
are  not  enticing  to  individuals  of  social  and  compan- 
ionable proclivities. 

It  may  be  said  on  the  other  hand,  however,  that  the 
labor  required  is  not  excessive,  and  is  well  paid.  If 
there  is  a  lack  of  opportunity  for  social  enjoyment, 
there  is  also  not  much  temptation  to  spend  money,  so 
that  the  position  of  cable  operator  is  one  in  which 
there  is  an  opportunity  for  financial  accumulation. 
Most  if  not  all  of  the  cable  operators  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic  came  from  England,  and  after  a  certain 
term  of  service  are  entitled  to  a  three  months'  leave  of 
absence  to  visit  their  native  land,  if  they  so  desire. 
They  receive  from  the  company  a  liberal  allowance  to 
defray  their  expenses  upon  the  trip. 

ECONOMY  IN     SENDING  MESSAGES. 

The  price  per  word  being  a  consideration  in  trans- 
mitting messages  over  the  Atlantic  cable,  the  aim 
of  merchants,  news  agencies,  and  others  is  to  send  as 
few  words  and  convey  as  much  information  as  possi- 
ble. A  great  number  of  cipher  codes  are  in  use, 
composed  generally  of  columns  of  words  or  figures 
answering  to  every  possible  emergency.  The  codes 
are  kept  profoundly  secret,  and  to  prevent  the  clerks 


CABLE    TELEGRAPHS.  105 

and  employes  in  the  offices  interpreting  and  divulg- 
ing the  message,  a  secret  understanding  often  exists 
between  the  principals  to  read  the  cipher  backward 
or  forward  half  a  dozen  words.  The  following  sample 
of  a  message  presents  the  most  unintelligible  aspect 
to  an  outsider: 

John  Bolton  &  Co.,  Liverpool,  to  Preston,  Banks 
&  Co.,  New  Orleans. — Kildare — Description — Sacred 
— Ecuador — Pot — Screamer — Shrimp — Betsy — Name- 
less— Bobby — Bellona — Obscure — Numantia — Battle- 
trap — Kichard — Sackbut — Sally — Salmon — Penholder. 

Such  a  queer  combination  of  words  might  lead  one 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  cotton  merchants  were  given 
to  indulge  in  an  eccentric  species  of  wit  peculiar  to 
themselves;  but  the  words  have  a  stern  significance 
that  means  "business."  They  form  a  cipher  telegram 
of  the  most  unrelenting  "business  aspect,"  even  the 
diminutive  "  shrimp  "  bearing  a  grim  message  of  special 
intelligence,  and  the  very  unsentimental  Christian 
names  answering  to  the  names  of  various  firms,  who 
are  wont  to  be  addressed  by  much  more  respectful 
titles.  It  is  necessary  to  take  notice  that  the  cotton 
bought  by  cable  is  still  in  this  country  or  on  the  sea ; 
in  fact,  it  is  often  bought,  re-sold,  and  re-bought  again 
perhaps  half  a  dozen  times  before  it  ever  touches  the 
shores  of  England.  The  translation  of  the  telegram 
above  given  is  as  follows : 

1  We  have  sold  to  Kingston  &  Co.,  Preston,  500 

Kildare  bales  (of  cotton)  at  7|  (per  pound),  good  qual- 

Description    V      ity,   color  and  staple.     Terms   laid   down   by 

Sacred.  steamer.     Bills  of  lading  to  be  sent  through 

j       Messrs.  Baring  Brothers. 


106 


CABLE    TELEGRAPHS. 


Ecuador 
Pot. 


Screamer. 

Shrimp 
Betsy. 

Nameless 
Bobby. 

Obscure 
Numantia 

Rattletrap 
Richard 

Sackbut 
Sally 

Salmon 
Penholder 


Buy  for  John  Smith  &  Co.,  200  bales  at  8|,  with 
fine,  long,  even  staple ;  inferior  bales  will  be 
rejected.  Ship  by  steamer. 

Execute  this  order  if  possible ;  it  may  lead  to  a 
large  business. 

Do  not  insure  for  Brown  &  Co. ;  they  will  attend 
to  their  own. 

Bush  &  Wilson  are  not  satisfied  with  their  lot; 
it  is  not  up  to  the  mark.  Use  more  care. 
Take  special  pains  to  ship  no  bales  showing 
sticks  or  sand. 

Your  letter  is  not  to  hand ;  if  important,  cable 
particulars. 

The  Numantia  is  making  a  long  voyage :  fears 
are  entertained  for  her  safety. 

Is  James  Rochdale  good?  and  to  what  amount? 
Sharp  is  speculating.  Be  careful  with  him. 

The  Manchester  market  is  excited  and  rising 
rapidly. 


This  cable  telegram  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  kinds 
that  are  daily  passing  by  hundreds  over  the  Atlantic 
cable.  The  art  of  preparing  these  codes  is  one  requir- 
ing considerable  ingenuity. 


HUMORS   OF    THE   TELEGRAPH.  107 


HUMOKS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

In  the  progress  of  this  little  book  up  to  the  point 
reached,  occasion  has  been  met  with  for  the  intro- 
duction of  incidents  and  anecdotes  which  have  served 
to  lighten  its  pages  and  add  to  their  interest.  Not- 
withstanding this,  however,  our  plan  would  not  be 
complete  in  the  absence  of  an  entire  chapter  devoted 
to  the  humors  of  the  telegraph,  and  giving  a  suc- 
cession of  well-authenticated  accounts  most  mirthful 
and  entertaining. 

We  can  scarcely  do  better  than  to  introduce,  in  the 
beginning,  the  ingenious  Irishman  who  inquired  of 
an  operator;  "Do  you  ever  charge  anybody  for  the 
address  of  a  message  ?  "  "  No."  "  And  do  ye  charge 
for  signing  his  name,  sir  ?"  continued  the  customer. 
"No."  Well,  then,  will  ye  please  send  this?  I  just  want 
me  brother  to  know  I  am  here,"  handing  the  follow- 
ing: "Cincinnati,  Sept.  3d.  To  John  M'Flynn — at 
New  York— (signed)  Patrick  M'Flynn." 

An  old  lady  in  a  town  of  Massachusetts,  refused  the 
gift  of  a  load  of  wood  from  a  tree  struck  by  light- 
ning, through  fear  that  some  of  the  "fluid"  might 
remain  in  the  wood,  and  cause  disaster  to  her  kitchen 
stove.  And  during  the  summer  of  1878,  a  Texas  man 
declined  to  receive  a  dispatch  from  a  yellow  fever  local- 
ity, lest  he  might  catch  the  disease. 

That  was  a  witty  man  who,  being  detained  by  a 


108  HUMORS   OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

snow- blockade,  penned  a  dispatch  which  ran  thus : 
"  My  dear  sir,  I  have  every  motive  for  visiting  you, 
except  a  locomotive."  So  was  the  other  who,  under 
similar  circumstances,  telegraphed  to  his  firm  in  New 
York:  "I  shall  not  be  in  the  office  to-day,  as  I  have 
not  got  home  yesterday  yet." 

Incongruous  telegrams  as  to  their  subjects,  are 
numberless,  their  reason,  economy.  For  instance:  "To 
— .  Nellie  has  fine  girl.  Sell  my  horse  at  price  named." 

Another,  sent  from  a  Western  town  to  a  gentleman 
of  this  city,  read  :  "  To -.  Matilda  died  this  morn- 
ing. Send  fifty  dollars  worth  of  cheap  jewelry." 

A  message  sent  from  Cincinnati  to  Milwaukee  read: 
"Send  Pauline  here  immediately;  have  a  chance  to 
get  her  married."  And  a  Pennsylvania  politician  once 
telegraphed  his  father:  "I  have  2,000 majority — brother 
Sam  died  this  morning." 

From  Albany,  Oregon,  we  learn  of  a  farmer  down 
the  country  who  had  occassion  to  telegraph  to  that 
city  to  friends,  notifying  them  of  the  death  of  his 
father.  Being  anxious  to  get  the  message  through 
promptly,  he  rode  on  horseback  past  one  telegraph 
office  to  another,  twenty  miles  nearer  Albany,  to  send 
the  message,  giving  as  his  reason  for  the  extra  travel 
that  the  office  was  twenty  miles  nearer,  and,  of  course, 
the  message  would  go  quicker  than  from  the  other 
twenty  miles  further  away. 

The  following  dispatch  created  110  little  amusement 
in  the  offices  through  which  it  passed.  "  Charlie  and 
Julia  met  at  S -'s  yesterday,  quarreled  and  parted 


HUMORS   OF    THE   TELEGKAPH.  109 

for  ever  ;  met  again  this  morning  and  parted  to  meet 
no  more ;  met  again  this  evening  and  were  married." 

There  are  evidences  of  a  poetical  turn  of  mind  in 
this  telegram,  sent  by  a  newly-married  man  while  on 
his  wedding  tour,  to  a  friend  in  Montreal :  "Expect  to- 
night a  happy  pair,  bed  and  supper  please  prepare ;" 
and  of  domestic  bliss  in  the  following,  sent  by  a  Wall 
street  broker  to  his  wife  :  '•  Send  John.  Also  demi- 
john. Kiss  Matty.  Spank  Arthur.  Don't  fret." 

The  husband  of  Harriet  Prescott  Spofford  was  in 
Boston  when  he  learned  that  he  had  become  a  father 
by  this  dispatch,  dated  Newburyport :  "  Dear  father, 
I  came  to  town  this  morning  at  eleven  o'clock,  and 
when  you  are  disengaged  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  be 
introduced  to  you.  Truly  your  affectionate  son, 
Richard  Spofford." 

"Mamma,'  said  a  little  girl,  pointing  to  the  tele- 
graph wires,  "how  do  they  send  messages  by  those 
bits  of  wires  without  tearing  them  to  pieces  "?"  "  They 
send  them  in  a  fluid  state,  my  dear,"  was  the  reply. 

A  good  story  is  told  of  a  country  woman  who  re- 
ceived a  dispatch  later  than  she  expected  :  "It  must 
have  been  delayed  on  the  road,"  said  she.  "I  know 
the  wires  are  busy  to-day,  for  I  heard  them  working  as 
I  came  along." 

"  KILLING   FAURE." 

Much  ado  about  a  little  arose  from  the  meddling  of 
an  astute  operator  of  Paris,  who,  upon  receiving  a  dis- 
patch of  an  unusual  character  for  transmission,  stared 


110  HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

and  inquired  of  the  messenger  by  whom  it  was  sent. 
The  answer  was:  "By  a  gentleman  living  in  the  Eue  la 
Fontaine."  The  operator  requested  the  man  to  step 
into  his  office  and  take  a  seat.  Meanwhile  a  gendarme 
was  summoned  and  the  message  shown  to  him.  It  ran 
thus:  "I  have  thought  of  a  better  and  more  expeditious 
mode  of  killing  Faure,"  and  was  signed  Mery.  The 
agent  started  for  M.  Mery's  residence  ;  he  was  in  bed, 
but  was  in  the  act  of  announcing  to  his  co-laborer,  M. 
Dulvile,  with  whom  he  was  writing  Don  Carlos,  for 
which  Verdi  composed  the  music,  that  he  had  thought 
of  another  mode  of  dispatching  the  Marquis  of  Rosa 
(which  part  was  to  be  acted  by  Faure)  than  by  a  pis- 
tol-shot, as  in  Schiller's  tragedy,  and  had  telegraphed 
to  him  to  that  effect. 

"ADDITIONAL  WURRED." 

"  The  top  of  the  mornin'  to  yez,  sur,"  remarked  an 

Irishman,  entering  the  Cincinnati  office  one  morning. 
"Good  morning,"  replied  the  operator. 
"Fhot  do   yez  charge  to  sind  a  missige  to  Pitts 

burg  ?  " 

"  Forty  and  three,  sir." 

"  And  fhot  is  the  three  fur,  I  dunno  ?" 

"  That  is  for  the  additional  words,  sir." 

"  Additional  wurred !  And  who  is  he  ?  " 

"  Why,  for  ten  words  you  pay  forty  cents  and  for 

each  additional  word  three  cents." 

"Oh,  ho!  ye  spalpane!  and  that's  your  little  game, 

is  it  ?  Yez  wants  me  to  pay  yez  forty  cints,  which  yez 


HUMORS   OF    THE   TELEGRAPH.  Ill 

will  pocket,  and  thin  sind  the  missige  wid  that  three 
cints  by  mail,  eh  ?  Oh,  no !  I'll  sind  it  by  mail  meself, 
and  get  tight  on  that  same  forty  cints !  Good  day  to 
yez." 

And  out  he  went,  leaving  the  telegraphers  to  enjoy 
a  hearty  laugh. 

A    SKETCH   FROM   RUSSIA. 

The  last  story  is  matched  by  one  which  reaches  us 
from  Kussia,  and  is  a  faithful  account  of  what  took 
place  in  one  of  the  Russian  telegraph  offices. 

The  door  is  opened  by  a  stout  merchant. 

Merchant — Hollo,  there  !  Is  it  here  that  you  send 
telegrams  ? 

Operator — We  can  dispatch  a  telegram  for  you,  sir, 
if  you  wish  it.  "Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  write  down 
the  message  that  you  want  to  send  ? 

The  merchant  took  a  sheet  of  paper,  sat  down  with 
an  air  of  stern  satisfaction,  and  wrote  : 

"  To  my  son,  Vasili  Petrovitch  Bogatoff,  at  Moscow: 
Vasia,  you  infernal  dog !  You  fool,  you  pig,  you  villain, 
you  brigand,  you  pickpocket,  you  unbaptized  son  of  a 
gun !  What  the  devil  do  you  mean  by  rousing  me  up 
in  the  middle  of  the  night  with  that  cursed  letter  of 
yours,  begging  for  money,  as  usual  ?  Not  a  kopeck 
shall  you  have  from  me,  and  you  may  go  and  hang 
yourself ! " 

Operator  (mildly  but  firmly) — Excuse  me,  sir,  it  is 
quite  impossible  for  us  to  send  such  a  message  as 
that. 


112  HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

Merchant — How  ?  Not  send  it  ?  What  do  you 
mean  ?  If  I  were  to  put  that  in  a  letter  and  mail  it, 
it  would  go,  and  why  shouldn't  it  go  in  a  telegram  ? 
Besides  (with  an  air  of  unanswerable  logic)  he  is  a 
pig!  Come,  you  must  send  it — you  know  it's  your 
duty. 

Operator  (with  exasperating  politeness)  — Quite  out 
of  the  question,  sir,  I  assure  you.  Our  rules  are  very 
strict,  and  we  never  depart  from  them. 

Merchant  (furiously) — So  much  the  worse  for  you, 
then.  I'll  write  a  letter  twice  as  bad  as  that  message, 
and  send  it  off  by  the  first  mail — and  then  we'll  see. 
That  for  you  and  your  telegram  !  They're  not  worth  a 
kopeck. 

Exit  triumphantly. 

A    SATCHEL    BY    TELEGRAPH. 

The  subject  of  our  story  was  a  German  somewhat 
intoxicated,  who  boarded  the  Hudson  Eiver  train  at 
Kinderhook.  He  threw  his  satchel  down  in  a  corner 
of  the  car,  took  a  seat,  and  was  soon  in  the  arms  of 
Morpheus.  On  awaking  he  alleged  that  he  had  left  his 
baggage  at  Kinderhook,  and  asked  the  boy  employed 
on  the  train  what  he  should  do  to  recover  it.  The 
latter,  who  had  seen  the  German  place  his  satchel  in 
the  corner,  replied:  "  You  give  me  thirty  cents  and  I'l] 
telegraph  to  Kinderhook  to  have  the  depot  master 
forward  it  by  telegraph  to  Greenbush.  It  will  reach 
there  before  we  do."  The  German  paid  the  money, 
gave  a  minute  description  of  the  missing  property,  and 


HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH.  113 

the  boy  departed,  taking  the  satchel  into  another  car. 
On  reaching  Greenbush  the  boy  returned  with  the 
bag,  and,  placing  it  in  the  German's  hands,  said: 
"  There's  the  first  satchel  I  ever  see  come  by  tele- 
graph." "  Ah,"  replied  the  German,  "  dot  delegraff  is 
run  great  dings ;  here,  dake  another  quarter,  mein 
boy."  And  the  boy  did. 

A    MEDDLING   KING    SNUBBED. 

King  John  of  Saxony  was  prone  to  dropping  in  upon 
officials  when  they  least  expected  him.  One  day  he 
appeared  at  the  telegraph  office  of  a  small  station. 
The  operator  apprised  his  colleague  at  the  next  station 
of  the  unwelcome  visit,  and  before  an  acknowledgement 
of  the  warning  came,  was  called  upon  to  enlighten  the 
inquiring  monarch  respecting  the  business  of  his  office. 
Presently  a  message  came  along  the  wires,  and  his 
majesty  desired  to  be  acquainted  with  its  purport. 
He  was  told  it  was  unimportant,  but  was  not  to  be  put 
off,  and  insisted  upon  the  message  being  repeated  to 
him ;  so  the  stammering  operator  had  no  choice  but  to 
regale  the  royal  ears  with  the  German  equivalent  for 
"  The  king  pokes  his  nose  into  everything." 

A    VERY   PROPER    OLD    LADY. 

A  droll  mistake  was  made  by  an  imaginative  old 
dame  who,  having  permitted  a  telegraph  pole  to  be 
placed  in  front  of  her  house,  waited  on  the  chief  of 
the  telegraph  company  concerned  to  complain  that 
she  could  get  no  sleep  at  night,  being  kept  awake  by 


114  HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

the  noise  made  by  the  messages  passing  over  her 
head. 

"  I  don't  think,  sir,"  said  she,  "you  can  be  aware  of 
all  that's  said  along  them  wires.  There's  a  deal  that 
hadn't  ought  to  be.  I  can  assure  you,  sir,  that  very 
much  that's  said  there,  that  I  have  to  lie  and  listen  to, 
is  such  as  no  decent  woman  ought  to  hear  ;  and  I 
hope  you  will  put  a  stop  to  it." 

The  amused  gentleman  was  hardly  able  to  meet  the 
accusation  with  due  gravity ;  but  he  did  contrive  to 
keep  his  countenance  while  he  informed  the  old  lady 
that  the  young  men  who  had  hitherto  worked  the 
wires  were  under  notice  of  dismissal ;  and  that  in 
future  only  young  women  of  great  respectability 
would  be  employed,  so  there  would  be  no  danger  of 
her  propriety  being  shocked  any  longer. 

LITTLE    "  JOHNNY   RUSSELL." 

One  evening  at  a  time  when  Lord  John  Russell, 
known  in  English  public-house  political  disputations 
by  the  disrespectful  name  "  Johnny  Kussell,"  was  in 
attendance  at  Queen  Victoria's  castle  of  Balmoral,  in 
the  north  of  Scotland,  a  little  old  man,  buried  in  a 
great  coat,  handed  a  telegram,  addressed  to  one  of  the 
ministers  in  London,  to  the  telegraph  operator  at  one 
of  the  stations  on  the  Deeside  railway.  The  operator, 
after  glancing  at  the  message,  threw  it  contemptuously 
back  with : 

"  Put  your  name  to  it.  It's  a  pity  your  master  does 
not  know  how  to  send  a  telegram." 

The  name  was  added. 


HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH.  115 

"  "Why,  you  can't  write  !  "  exclaimed  the  operator, 
after  vainly  trying  to  make  something  of  the  signa- 
ture. "  What's  your  name  ?  " 

"  My  name,"  said  the  messenger — "  my  name  is 
John  Russell." 

That  operator  was  transferred  to  another  office 
before  many  days  passed. 

PETER'S  TELEGRAM. 

A  message  had  been  received  for  Peter  from  a  former 
sweetheart,  Margaret  Flagarty,  inviting  him  to  spend 
the  day  with  her.  Of  course  the  telegram  was  duly 
sent  to  his  address.  That  evening  a  forlorn-looking 
object  entered  the  office,  and  going  to  the  operator, 
said  :  "  Please,  sur,  I  want  to  send  a  message."  "Well, 
here  is  the  paper,  write  it  down."  "Indeed,  sur,  I  can't 
write."  The  operator,  who  was  a  brisk  little  man, 
said :  "  Come  to  the  desk,  then,  and  tell  me  what  you 
want  to  send."  He  came  slowly,  and  gave  the  address 
of  Margaret  Flagarty,  etc.,  then,  in  a  deep,  sepulchral 
tone,  hitching  nearer  the  instrument,  he  added:  "  I  am 
married, and  to  my  sorrow!"  If  the  wires  didn't  laugh 
the  operators  did,  as  the  message  sped  swiftly  from 
station  to  station.  No  two-volumed  novel,  with  con- 
nubial miseries  long  drawn  out,  could  have  portrayed 
more  heart-rending  grief  than  Peter's  telegram. 

HE  COULDN'T  BE  FOOLED. 

"Would  you  mind  readin'  this  for  me,  sir  ?  I  can't 
read  myself."  It  was  a  snow-shoveler  on  Walnut 


116  HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

street,  Louisville,  that  spoke,  as  lie  handed  over  an 
envelope,  inclosing  a  telegram,  which  read :  "Nashville, 
January  9,  1879.  I  shall  arrive  at  Louisville  by  the 
three  o'clock  train  this  evening.  Jerry  A.  Taft."  "Will 
you  read  it  again,  sir  T  asked  the  snow-shoveler.  It 
was  read  again.  "You  say  it's  signed  Jerry  A.  Taft?" 
"That  is^the  name."  "Please  read  it  once  more." 
His  request  was  complied  with.  "  It  goes  right 
straight  along — just  them  'ere  words,  without  any 
hitchin' or  stumblin"?"  "Just  that  way."  "It  can't 
be  Jerry,  then;  it  can't  be  Jerry,"  he  mused;  "Jerry 
couldn't  say  that  many  words  without  stutterin'  all  to 
pieces,  to  save  his  life.  Some  fellow's  tryin'  to  fool  me, 
but  I'm  too  smart  for  him,  I  am." 

WRITES  LIKE  A  MAN. 

A  family  in  the  country  were  electrified  by  the 
receipt  of  a  telegraphic  dispatch  from  a  daughter, 
who  was  teaching  in  a  distant  city.  The  telegram 
was  passed  around  and  duly  admired.  The  dashing 
boldness  of  the  chirography  came  in  for  its  share  of 
the  praise.  The  old  lady  shook  her  head  with  an  air 
of  gratified  pride,  as  she  ejaculated,  slowly  : 

"Anna  Maria  allers  did  write  like  a  man;  she's 
been  takin'  writin'  lessons ;  this  here  beats  her  last 
letter  all  holler !" 

A    LITTLE    STORY   FROM    MAINE. 

A  man  went  into  one  of  the  offices  in  Bangor  with 
a  dispatch,  which  he  insisted  upon  having  sent  off 


HUMOBS   OF   THE   TELEGRAPH.  117 

immediately.  The  operator  accommodated  him,  and 
then  hung  the  dispatch  on  a  hook.  The  man  hung 
around  some  time,  evidently  unsatisfied;  at  last  his 
patience  was  exhausted,  and  he  belched  out:  "Ain't 
you  going  to  send  that  dispatch?"  The  operator 
politely  informed  him  that  he  had  sent  it.  "  No  yer 
ain't,"  replied  the  indignant  man;  "there  it  is  now  on 
the  hook." 

HOLLOW   AND   HELLO. 

A  genuine  "pahdee,"  quite  aged,  living  some  miles 
out  of  town,  went  into  the  office  at  Augusta  one  day 
to  sell  some  "praties,"  and  seeing  the  instruments, 
battery,  etc.,  wondered  if  that  was  the  "tiligraft." 
After  gazing  steadily  for  several  minutes,  he  said  he 
had  always  wanted  to  ask  one  question ;  and  this  was 
it:  "Is  the  wire  hollow  on  the  outside  or  on  the 
inside?"  Some  one  recently  inquired  of  the  manager 
of  a  telephone  exchange  whether  telephone  wire  wasn't 
hollow.  "No,"  gruffly  replied  the  manager,  "it's 
'hello.'" 

FOOLING  THE  SAVAGES. 

The  ingenious  French  have  contrived  a  novel  way 
to  impress  che  barbaric  mind.  M.  de  Brazza,  who  has 
charge  of  the  expedition  to  Senegal,  carries  an  electric 
battery  in  his  pocket,  communicating  with  two  rings 
on  his  hand  and  with  other  apparatus  scattered  about 
his  person.  When  he  shakes  hands  with  a  savage 
chief,  that  chief  will  be  very  much  astonished,  for  an 


118  HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

electric  shock  will  run  up  his  arm  and  he  will  see 
lightning  playing  about  the  head  of  his  visitor.  Natu- 
rally he  will  think  he  is  being  interviewed  by  his 
satanic  majesty,  and  will  be  ready  to  consent  to  any- 
thing in  order  to  get  away. 

"ONNATERAL    FIXINS." 

An  old  lady  living  on  one  of  the  telegraph  lines 
leading  from  Louisville,  in  the  early  days  of  telegraphy, 
observed  some  workmen  digging  a  hole  near  her  door, 
she  inquired  what  it  was  for.  "  To  put  a  post  in  for 
the  telegraph,"  was  the  answer.  Wild  with  fury  and 
affright,  she  seized  her  bonnet  and  ran  off  to  her  next 
neighbor  with  the  news.  "What  do  you  think?"  she 
exclaimed  in  breathless  haste;  "they're  setting  up 
that  paragraph  right  agin  my  door ;  and  now  I  reckon 
a  body  can't  spank  a  child,  or  scold  a  hand,  or  chat 
with  a  neighbor,  but  that  plaguy  thing'll  be  blabbing 
it  all  over  creation.  I  won't  stand  it.  I'll  move 
right  away  where  there  ain't  none  of  them  onnateral 
fixins! " 

CHICAGO    AND    . 

During  the  time  when  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Telegraph  Company  had  established  a  uniform  rate  of 
twenty-five  cents  between  any  two  offices  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  a  Chicago  man,  residing  in  the 
suburbs,  having  to  telegraph  home  from  a  distant 
Wisconsin  town,  asked  the  diminutive  and  apparently 
unsophisticated  operator  in  charge  of  the  only  tele- 


HUMORS   OF    THE   TELEGRAPH.  119 

graph  office  in  the  place — a  Western  Union  one — what 
the  tariff  would  be,  and  upon  being  told  that  one 
insatiate  dollar  would  suffice,  burst  out:  "Dollar  be 
blowed!  We  can  telegraph  to  h — 1  in  Chicago  for  a 
quarter!"  "Oh,  yes,"  calmly  answered  the  cunning 
knight  of  copperas  and  brass,  "but  that  ain't  outside 
the  city  limits!" 

A  WITTY  ILLUSTRATION. 

Writing  of  the  difficulty  English  engineers  experi- 
enced in  making  educated  Persians  understand  the 
working  of  the  electric  telegraph,  Mr.  Mounsey  says : 
"  Much  of  the  time  of  one  of  our  officers  was  occupied 
during  several  weeks  in  attempting  to  enlighten  the 
mind  of  a  provincial  governor,  who  had  got  it  into  his 
head  that  the  wires  were  hollow  tubes,  and  that  mes- 
sages were  transmitted  through  them,  as  in  the  pneu- 
matic post.  In  vain  was  the  whole  apparatus  shown 
to  his  highness  ;  in  vain  even  all  its  parts  explained 
and  re-explained — he  stuck  to  his  idea;  and  it  was 
only  by  the  suggestion  of  the  following  simile  that  he 
was  at  last  induced  to  relinquish  it,  and  declare  him- 
self satisfied  : 

"  '  Imagine,'  said  the  officer,  '  a  dog  whose  tail  is 
here  at  Teheran,  and  his  muzzle  in  London ;  tread  on 
his  tail  here,  and  he  will  bark  there.'" 

OFFICE    LOAFERS   ELECTRIFIED. 

Newspaper  editors  especially  will  be  thankful  for  a 
description  of  the  manner  in  which  certain  telegraph 


120  HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGEAPH. 

operators  of  Sacramento,  Cal.,  rid  themselves  of  loafers. 
A  box  running  the  full  length  of  the  front  of  the  office 
on  the  outside  had  furnished  a  tempting  seat  for  the 
habitues.  This  was  covered  with  zinc,  which  had 
been  connected  with  the  batteries  that  were  contained 
in  the  box.  A  person  sitting  upon  the  box  without 
touching  his  hands  thereto  did  not  feel  the  electricity, 
but  if  his  hands  dropped  on  the  box,  or  he  put  them 
thereon  to  assist  him  in  rising,  he  received  such  a 
sudden  and  astonishing  shock  as  sent  him  an  unbeliev- 
able number  of  feet  toward  the  lofty  roof  and  the 
adjacent  river.  Any  good  day  a  person  might  see 
some  of  these  unfortunates,  unexpectedly  struck  with 
this  domesticated  lightning,  describing  a  fifty  feet 
parabola  in  the  air. 

SHOCKING    THE     NEGROES. 

At  one  of  the  stations  on  the  Kentucky  Central 
Bailroad,  a  couple  of  negroes  cut  down  a  tree  across 
the  telegraph  wire  and  broke  it.  The  operator  came 
out  at  once,  determined  on  revenge.  He  quietly  took 
his  seat  and  ordered  the  negroes  to  bring  the  two  ends 
of  the  wire  together  and  mend  it.  Each  seized  end 
and  end,  but  the  moment  they  came  in  contact  there 
was  a  sharp  electric  shock,  and  they  let  go.  It  was 
raining,  and  the  battery  was  strong.  However,  the 
negroes  didn't  know  where  the  shock  came  from,  and 
tried  it  again.  By  this  time  they  were  so  wet  that 
the  current  would  pass  if  the  clothes  of  one  but 
touched  the  other.  Frightened  and  bewildered  they 


HUMORS   OF    THE    TELEGRAPH.  121 

brought  the  wires  together  again  and  again ;  each 
time,  to  their  great  astonishment,  an  electric  shock 
convulsed  them.  And  when  the  train  started  there 
sat  that  operator  under  the  shelter  of  the  depot  still 
egging  the  negroes  to  fresh  efforts. 

BLINDFOLDING    THE    "MASHEEN." 

Mrs.  Moore,  desiring  at  times  to  indulge  in  a  little 
domestic  telegraphy,  had  a  wire  run  from  the  base- 
ment of  her  domicile  to  the  second  story  sitting  room 
thereof,  and  equipped  with  a  pair  of  learners'  instru- 
ments. By  the  help  of  a  telegraphic  friend  she  and 
her  husband  soon  learned  to  communicate  deftly  with 
each  other,  sending  down  instructions  to  the  servants 
and  superintending  household  matters  generally  with- 
out the  inconvenience  of  traveling  too  frequently  up 
and  down  two  flights  of  stairs.  Bridget  and  Mary,  of 
the  lower  regions,  had  watched  this  mysterious  opera- 
tion with  considerable  interest,  and,  as  the  event 
proved,  had  settled  upon  a  theory  of  their  own  as  to 
the  modus  operandi  of  the  concern — at  all  events  they 
evidently  considered  that  it  was  not  altogether  a  safe 
thing  to  have  in  the  room  under  certain  contingencies. 

One  evening  Patrick  and  Michael  had  paid  a  visit  to 
the  aforesaid  handmaidens,  and  the  quartet  had 
remained  in  close  conference  with  closed  doors  until 
a  late  hour.  The  next  morning  Mrs.  Moore  discovered 
the  telegraph  instrument  carefully  covered  over  with  a 
cloth,  and  nicely  tucked  in  around  the  edges !  At  first 
she  was  naturally  astonished  at  such  unprecedented 


122  HUMORS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

care-taking,  but  when  the  truth  flashed  upon  her  that 
the  unoffending  instrument  had  merely  been  blind- 
folded, so  that  it  couldn't  see  what  was  going  on  and 
report  it  to  the  "  missus  "  up  stairs,  she  laughed  till  she 
well  nigh  went  into  convulsions.  So  do  her  friends 
when  she  tells  them  the  story. 

A    CRAMMER. 

The  buffaloes  found  in  the  telegraph  poles  of  the 
overland  line  a  new  source  of  delight  on  the  treeless 
prairie — the  novelty  of  having  something  to  scratch 
against.  But  it  was  expensive  scratching  for  the  tele- 
graph company;  and  there,  indeed,  was  the  rub,  for 
the  bisons  shook  down  miles  of  wire  daily.  A  bright 
idea  struck  somebody,  to  send  to  St.  Louis  and  Chicago 
for  all  the  brad-awls  that  could  be  purchased,  and 
these  were  driven  into  the  poles,  with  a  view  to  wound 
the  animals  and  check  their  rubbing  propensity. 
Never  was  a  greater  mistake.  The  buffaloes  were 
delighted.  For  the  first  time  they  came  to  the 
scratch  sure  of  a  sensation  in  their  thick  hides  that 
thrilled  them  from  horn  to  tail.  They  would  go 
fifteen  miles  to  find  a  brad-awl.  They  fought  huge 
battles  around  the  poles  containing  them,  and  the 
victor  would  proudly  climb  the  mountainous  heap  of 
rump  and  hump  of  the  fallen,  and  scratch  himself  into 
bliss  until  the  brad-awl  broke  or  the  pole  came  down. 
There  has  been  no  demand  for  brad-awls  from  the 
Kansas  region  since  the  first  invoice. 

Eight  here  we  must  shut  down  on  funny  stories. 
'Tis  time  to  retire. 


TELEGRAPHIC    "BULLS."  123 


TELEGRAPHIC  "BULLS." 

This  is  a  fruitful  section,  probably  to  many  readers 
the  most  interesting  of  all,  if  not  the  most  useful. 
We  must,  however,  keep  it  within  reasonable  bounds, 
culling  from  the  best  "  bulls  "  which  have  come  within 
the  writer's  knowledge,  and  telling  these  as  concisely 
as  possible,  so  as  to  include  a  goodly  number. 

In  so  doing  we  find  it  the  most  convenient  way  to 
divide  this  section  into  two  parts — telegraphic  "  bulls  " 
by  operators  and  by  the  public. 

"  BULLS  "    BY   OPERATORS. 

"  Bulls  "  are  not  all  of  a  funny  character.  How  big 
with  fate  to  the  last  French  empire  was  the  tele- 
graphic blunder  which  caused  the  defeat  of  Marshal 
McMahon,  in  the  summer  of  1870 !  Failly  had  been 
telegraphed  to  move  on  Limbach;  but  the  dispatch, 
as  received  by  him,  read  "  Kausbach,"  and  he  acted 
accordingly,  by  which  move  the  plan  of  the  campaign 
was  fatally  disarranged. 

Perhaps  Fritz,  in  the  following  story,  taken  from  the 
history  of  the  Titanic  struggle  in  the  first  year  of  the 
present  decade,  deserved,  for  his  mercenary  view  of 
marriage,  all  the  inconveniences  and  the  disappoint- 
ment which  a  telegraphic  "  bull "  caused  him. 

A  young  German  lieutenant,  wounded  in  the  Franco- 
German  war,  went  for  his  health's  sake  to  a  quiet  vil- 
lage in  Vaud,  where  he  found  a  sweetheart.  By  the 


124  TELEGKAPHIO    "  BULL8." 

time  he  had  regained  his  health  the  pair  were  engaged ; 
then  came  a  sudden  order  to  report  himself  at  Berlin, 
an  order  he,  of  course,  obeyed.  At  first  his  disconso- 
late Marie  was  comforted  by  frequent  letters  full  of 
protestations  of  love  and  constancy  ;  but  as  time  wore 
on  the  lieutenant  plied  his  pen  less  often  and  moder- 
ated its  outpourings.  At  last  he  suffered  six  weeks 
to  go  without  a  word.  He  was  expecting  a  reproachful 
reminder,  when  a  telegram  arrived  from  the  faithful 
girl,  which  maybe  thus  translated:  "Dear  Fritz, — I 
have  just  received  a  letter  informing  me  that  my  uncle, 
a  millionaire  in  the  East  Indies,  is  dead,  and  that  I  am 
his  sole  heiress."  Fritz  felt  his  love  revive  as  he  read. 
He  applied  for  leave  of  absence,  and  was  soon  exchang- 
ing greetings  with  the  Swiss  maiden.  Though  the 
coming  of  her  lover  filled  her  heart  with  joy,  she 
could  not  refrain  from  gently  upbraiding  him  for  his 
silence.  "Don't  let  us  speak  of  it,  dearest,"  replied 
he.  "There  is  no  longer  any  obstacle  to  our  union. 
The  unexpected  good  fortune  which  Providence  has 
sent  us  has  removed  the  objections  of  my  parents;  a 

fortune  so  colossal "     "Fritz,"  interrupted  Marie, 

"do  not  make  fun  of  me."  For  answer  the  lieutenant 
drew  her  telegram  out  of  his  pocket,  and  showed  her 
the  words:  "My  uncle,  a  millionaire  in  the  East  Indies, 
is  dead."  The  poor  girl,  dropping  his  hand,  said, 
"  Dear  Fritz,  I  wrote:  'My  uncle,  a  missionnaire.'  He 
has  left  me  all  he  had,  which  is  just  a  hundred  and 
ninety-six  francs."  Fritz  went  back  to  Berlin  freed 
from  his  engagement. 


TELEGRAPHIC    "  BULLS."  125 

A  writer  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  charges 
operators  with  having  amazed  a  husband  on  his  travels 
by  informing  him  that  he  was  the  father  of  a  dolphin ; 
with  having  extinguished  (distinguished)  a  man  in 
Paris  with  an  enormous  red  cockade ;  made  Italy  preg- 
nant with  a  lamb  (alarm)  ;  sent  a  man  a  train  filled 
with  penny  shovels  (perishable  goods) ;  told  one  man 
that  his  onions  (opinions)  were  not  wanted ;  made 
travelers  inform  their  employers  that  they  could  not 
leave  London  without  their  cabbage  (luggage) ;  as- 
serted that  sugar  cans  (canes)  grew  in  Jamaica ;  that 
seraphs  (serfs)  were  emancipated  in  Russia ;  that  the 
Emperor  of  Austria  gave  the  ambassadors  a  spree 
(soiree) ;  made  Captain  Smith,  of  Her  Majesty's  33d, 
indignant  by  addressing  him  as  Captain  Smith,  of  Her 
Majesty's  dirty  3d;  amazed  a  distinguished  poet  by 
consigning  to  him  a  cargo  of  codfish  and  salt  pork, 
and  amused  a  distinguished  clergyman  by  asking  him 
his  lowest  offer  for  steam  coals  ;  and  nearly  got  a  mer- 
chant into  the  "  black  list"  by  saying  that  he  was  no- 
where (now  here.) 

Considering  the  many  millions  of  messages  sent  and 
received  every  year — some  operators  in  the  larger 
offices  handling  as  many  as  from  three  to  five  hundred 
a  day — and  the  fearful  and  wonderful  penmanship  in 
which  many  of  them  are  disguised  by  the  senders,  the 
wonder  is  not  so  much  that  mistakes  occasionally  hap- 
pen, as  that  they  do  not  occur  far  oftener,  especially 
as  the  telegraphic  symbols  for  many  different  letters 
and  words  are  so  nearly  alike. 


126  TELEGEAPHIO    "BULLS." 

The  most  frequent  cause  of  error  on  the  part  of 
operators  is  the  running  of  two  or  more  words  to- 
gether, on  the  one  hand,  or  the  unnecessary  dividing 
of  a  word,  on  the  other.  For  instance,  the  words 
"  colored  man"  have  been  transformed  into  "  Col.  Ord- 
man;"  "Addie  Pratt"  into  "Addie  P.  Rat,"  and  the 
signature  "  Theodore  Rose"  into  "the  odor  of  roses." 

"Subpoena  witnesses  and  compel  attendance"  was 
made  to  read  "  Subpoena  witnesses  and  compel  Allan 
to  dance." 

"Tour  son  is  dead.  Be  at  depot.  "Will  arrive  to- 
night," was  changed  in  transmission  to  "  Your  son  is 
dead  beat.  The  depot  will  arrive  to-night." 

A  gentleman  was  once  considerably  surprised  to  re- 
ceive the  following :  "  Do  not  hang  about  the  hotel. 
Will  write."  The  original  message  read  :  "  Do  nothing 
about  the  hotel.  Will  write." 

A  newspaper  dispatch  published  some  years  ago  gave 
an  account  of  the  doings  of  a  number  of  troops  under 
the  leadership  of  A.  N.  Cushman.  As  printed  in  the 
papers,  however,  it  stated  that  the  troops  were  led  by 
"  an  Irishman." 

A  story  is  told  of  a  Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  judge  who 
went  to  a  neighboring  town  on  business,  and  tele- 
graphed back  to  his  wife:  "  Have  found  Garland. 
Won't  be  home  for  a  week."  When  received,  the 
message  read  :  "  Have  found  girl,  and  won't  be  home 
for  a  week,"  which  doubtless  made  an  explanation 
necessary  when  he  did  get  back. 

The  following  dispatch  was  recently  sent  by  a  lady 


TELEGRAPHIC    "  BULLS."  127 

to  her  reverend  husband,  who  was  off  on  a  visit: 
"  Come  home  and  marry  M.  E.  Stuart  Thursday  morn- 
ing." The  worthy  divine  received  the  message  in  this 
shape,  which  considerably  startled  him  :  "  Come  home 
and  marry  me.  Start  Thursday  morning." 

To  properly  appreciate  many  good  "bulls"  it  is 
necessary  that  one  be  acquainted  with  the  Morse  tele- 
graphic alphabet.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  the 
following  will  be  found  interesting  even  to  those  who 
do  not  know  anything  of  the  business : 

There  are  two  hotels  in  London  much  frequented 
by  gentlemen  of  the  bar.  One  is  Thavies'  Inn,  and 
Lhe  other  Sergeant's  Inn.  In  a  telegram  addressed  to 
a  disciple  of  Blackstone  at  the  former  house  the  name 
of  the  hotel  was  rendered  Thieves'  Inn,  and,  curiously 
enough,  about  the  same  time  another  telegram  called 
the  other  house  Serpent's  Tnn. 

A  merchant  in  Boston  recently  received  the  follow- 
ing dispatch : 

"  CHICAGO,  July  24. 

"  Jennie  is  good — now  six  dogs  regularly." 

His  surprise  was  great.  What  Jennie  was  good  for 
he  could  not  imagine,  and  six  dogs  regularly  was 
incomprehensible,  unless  it  referred  to  diet,  and  then 
it  was  monstrous  and  astounding.  After  some  con- 
jecture he  telegraphed  for  an  explanation,  and  was 
relieved  by  the  following  correction : 

"  CHICAGO,  July  24 

"  Time  is  good — now  six  days  regularly." 

The  subject  in  question  was  the  time  occupied  in 


128  TELEGBAPHIC    "  BULT8." 

shipment  of  goods  to  the  West.  Jennie  was  an  irrele- 
vant female  introduced  by  the  operator;  and  as  for 
the  dogs,  they  were  a  pure  invention. 

An  English  lord,  as  proud  and  fond  as  a  man  should 
be  of  his  beautiful  young  wife,  was  just  about  rising 
to  speak  in  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in 
London,  when  a  telegram  was  put  into  his  hands. 
He  read  it,  left  the  House,  jumped  into  a  ci*b, 
drove  to  Charing  Cross,  and  took  the  train  to  Dover. 
Next  day  he  returned  home,  rushed  into  his  wife's 
room,  and,  finding  her  there,  upbraided  the  astonished 
lady  in  no  measured  terms.  She  protested  her  ignor- 
ance of  having  done  anything  to  offend  him.  "  Then 
what  did  you  mean  by  your  telegram?"  he  asked. 
"  Mean  ?  "What  I  said,  of  course.  What  are  you  talk- 
ing about  f '  "  Eead  it  for  yourself,"  said  he.  She 

read :  "  I  flee  with  Mr. to  Dover  straight.  Pray 

for  me."  For  the  moment  words  would  not  come  ; 
then,  after  a  merry  fit  of  laughter,  the  suspected  wife 
quietly  remarked  :  "  <3h,  those  dreadful  telegraph  peo- 
ple !  No  wonder  you  are  out  of  your  mind,  dear.  I 

telegraphed  simply :  "  I  tea  with  Mrs. in  Dover 

Street.  Stay  for  me.' " 

Sometimes  operators  are  called  upon  to  pay  for 
losses  that  may  be  occasioned  by  mistakes  made  in 
messages  received  by  them,  as  in  the  following: 

They  called  him  "  Towser,"  and  he  was  making 
frantic  efforts  to  get  up  a  reputation  for  never  breaking. 
One  day  as  he  was  passing  a  certain  desk  he  heard 
a  call,  and  gracefully  vaulted  upon  a  high  office  stool 
to  answer  it.  This  is  how  he  copied  the  message: 


TELEGRAPHIC    "  BULLS."  129 

"  To  John  Brown,  wholesale  druggist. — Please  send 
per  express  one  barrel  bottled  ale  immediately. 

Seaton  Bros." 

Boiled  ale  was  not  in  Mr.  Brown's  line  of  business, 
but  Seaton  Brothers  were  old  customers  of  his,  and  so, 
willing  to  oblige  them,  he  procured  the  ale  and  for- 
warded it  without  delay.  Next  day,  in  return  for  his 
kindness,  they  sent  him  the  following  message: 

"To  John  Brown. — What  do  you  mean  by  sending 
us  ale?  "We  refuse  it.  Hurry  up  our  oil. 

Seaton  Bros." 

Surprised  and  indignant  at  their  apparent  ingrati- 
tude he  hastened  to  the  office  and  wrathfully  exclaimed : 
"  What  in  the  thunder  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?  There's 
been  a  lovely  blunder  made  somewhere !  Get  that 
message  repeated  quick!" 

So  they  got  it  repeated,  and  it  turned  out  that  it  was 
a  barrel  of  boiled  oil  Seaton  Brothers  wantod,  instead 
of  bottled  ale.  When  this  was  explained  to  Mr. 
Brown — they  broke  it  to  him  as  gently  as  possible — he 
did  not  fly  into  a  rage  with  the  long-suffering  manager, 
as  they  expected  him  to  do.  He  merely  remarked: 
"That  operator  must  be  pretty  fond  of  ale  when  he 
takes  to  dragging  it  into  messages  so  promiscuous 
like.  However,"  he  added,  grimly,  "he  shall  have 
plenty  of  it  for  once,  for  he's  got  to  take  that  barrel 
and  pay  for  it,  too.  Yes,  sir-,  pay  for  it ! "  he  repeated, 
with  savage  emphasis. 

Another  instance  of  a  little  different  nature:  One 
evening  the  proprietor  of  the  railroad  eating-house  at 


130  TELEGRAPHIC    "  BULLS." 

Summit,  California,  received  the  following  dispatch: 
"  Have  100  gallons  coffee  for  my  men  on  arrival  of 
No.  1.  (Signed)  Lieutenant  Morgan,  Commanding 
detachment  Co.  B."  0 

The  operator  promptly  delivered  the  message.  A 
happy  smile  overspread  the  landlord's  countenance, 
for  he  had  had  government  contracts  before.  He 
grasped  the  dinner  gong,  and  never  before  did  that 
gong  give  forth  sounds  so  loud  and  long.  It  quickly 
summoned  to  his  side  half  a  score  of  cooks,  waiters 
and  maids  ;  the  order  of  the  night  was  read,  and  each 
assigned  to  a  post  of  duty.  All  was  bustle  and  con- 
fusion. Being  only  an  eating  place  for  train  men  and 
passengers,  the  stock  of  tinware  and  cooking  utensils 
was  not  very  extensive.  The  landlord  skirmished 
around  the  premises  for  tinware,  and  in  lieu  of  coffee 
pots,  etc.,  clothes  boilers,  dish  pans,  milk  pans,  dip- 
pers, and  even  oyster  cans  were  filled  with  water  and 
ground  coffee,  and  placed  upon  any  available  spot 
where  heat  could  be  transmitted  to  their  contents. 
Quantity  not  quality  being  desired,  even  the  operator 
utilized  the  wash  basins,  and  made  three  gallons  over 
his  office  fire.  "What  hurrying,  shouting  and  swear- 
ing !  Everybody  got  soaked  with  coffee  ;  everything 
that  would  hold  fluid  contained  coffee  ;  even  the  china 
pitchers  and  wash  basins  in  the  rooms  fitted  up  for  the 
accommodation  of  guests  had  to  be  used. 

Fifteen  minutes  before  the  train  was  due  the  land- 
lord found  that  he  had  the  required  quantity  all  made, 
and  was  proud  of  his  success.  The  train  arrived. 


TELEGRAPHIC    "BULLS."  131 

Lieutenant  Morgan,  accompanied  by  two  men,  each  car- 
rying a  five  gallon  can,  entered  the  hotel.  The  cans 
were  quickly  filled,  and  the  men  departed.  "Bring  on 
your  other  cans,"  shouted  the  landlord.  "  What  other 
cans  ?"  asked  the  lieutenant.  "  To  hold  this  coffee  you 
ordered,"  replied  the  landlord.  "I  ordered  V  and  the 
ofiicer  gazed  about  him  in  astonishment  at  the  array 
of  cans,  crockery  and  waiters.  "  Yes,"  shouted  the 
landlord,  drawing  forth  his  message  and  exhibiting  it. 
"You  ordered  one  hundred  gallons  of  coffee."  "I  or- 
dered but  ten  gallons,  and  here's  your  money  for  it," 
replied  the  officer,  throwing  down  a  five  dollar  green- 
back. "  All  aboard,"  shouted  the  conductor,  and  the 
lieutenant  rushed  from  the  room.  The  landlord  was 
now  frantic ;  he  quickly  followed  the  officer  out,  but 
the  train  had  started,  and  in  a  few  moments  was  thun- 
dering down  the  mountain  side  a  mile  away. 

Then  the  landlord  swore,  and  made  for  the  tele- 
graph office.  A  very  emphatic,  if  not  elegant,  saluta- 
tion fell  on  the  operator's  ears.  He  was  astounded. 
He  immediately  called  up  the  office  from  which  he  had 
received  the  message,  and  had  it  repeated.  Sure 
enough  it  read  ten.  The  upshot  was  that  the  operator 
had  to  pay  eighteen  dollars  for  the  ninety  gallons  of 
coffee. 

Occasionally,  however,  mistakes  of  this  kind  turn 
out  to  the  advantage  of  the  customer,  and  no  com- 
plaints are  made.  A  merchant  once  telegraphed  to  a 
wholesale  produce  firm  in  New  York  to  buy  him  a 
quantity  of  cheese.  The  original  message  said  a  hun- 


132  TELEGBAPHIO    "  BULLS." 

dred,  but  as  delivered  it  read  a  thousand.  Knowing 
the  man  to  be  perfectly  responsible,  the  firm  pur- 
chased for  and  sent  him  all  the  cheese  it  could  get. 
The  merchant  thought  that  so  much  cheese  would  ruin 
him  ;  but  it  so  happened  that  the  unusual  demand  had 
the  effect  of  increasing  the  price  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  was  able  to  sell  it  again  at  an  almost  fabulous 
profit. 

In  the  summer  of  1864  a  telegraphic  order  was  sent 
from  Washington  by  General  McCallum,  superintend- 
ent military  railroads,  to  Major  Weiitz  at  Binghamton, 
N.Y.,  to  forward  one  hundred  and  fifty  railroad  men  to 
Washington  at  once.  The  dispatch,  when  it  readied 
its  destination,  read  "  fifteen  hundred  men."  Such  a 
demand  was  considered  extraordinary,  but  in  those 
days  of  "  military  necessity"  strange  things  were  al- 
ways expected,  and  the  men  were  soon  collected  and 
on  their  way  South,  wondering  into  what  part  of  Dixie 
they  were  to  clear  a  way  for  Uncle  Sam's  iron  horses. 
But  the  surprise  of  the  superintendent  was  still 
greater  when  they  arrived,  and  a  search  was  imme- 
diately instituted  for  the  operator  who  made  the  mis- 
take. As  it  cost  about  thirteen  thousand  dollars  to 
transport  the  men  to  Washington,  and  the  expense  of 
keeping  them  there  was  not  less  than  twro  thousand 
dollars  a  day,  it  seemed  likely  to  prove  a  serious  affair 
for  somebody.  It  was  ascertained  that  the  error 
occurred  in  transmission  between  New  York  and  Bing- 
hamton ;  but  before  the  investigation  was  concluded, 
an  order  came  from  General  Sherman,  then  at  Dalton, 


TELEGRAPHIC    "BULLS."  133 

Georgia,  to  send  him  one  thousand  railroad  men 
immediately,  and  so  the  blunder  resulted  in  good  to 
the  government,  and  the  telegraph  was  saved  from 
censure. 

"BULLS"  BY  THE  PUBLIC. 

All  telegraphic  "bulls"  should  not  be  fathered  upon 
companies  and  their  operators.  The  public  are  respon- 
sible for  a  large  share  of  them.  One  principal  cause 
of  this  is  the  miserable  manuscripts  furnished  opera- 
tors by  customers.  The  following  is  a  case  in  point : 

An  eminent  divine  was  to  deliver  a  lecture  in  a 
neighboring  city,  and  wishing  to  telegraph  his  subject 
ahead  for  advertisement,  hastily  penned  a  dispatch, 
handing  it  to  a  boy  to  deliver  at  the  telegraph  office, 
he  himself  leaving  town.  The  operator,  after  sinking 
a  shaft  of  close  scrutiny  into  the  Chinese-like  hiero- 
glyphics of  the  message,  seemed  suddenly  to  strike  a 
vein  of  intelligence,  and  the  message  went  quickly  on 
its  wa^,  the  subject  of  the  lecture  being  duly  an- 
nounced in  the  next  morning's  paper  as  "  Our  Con- 
stitutions, and  Fresh  Halibut."  The  sender  of  the 
message,  who  had  come  to  lecture  upon  "  Some 
Considerations  on  the  Force  of  Habit,"  says  if  any- 
body will  start  a  petition  to  suppress  all  telegraph 
companies,  he  will  be  the  first  to  sign  it. 

Correspondents  of  the  press,  when  they  use  the 
telegraph,  are  in  the  habit,  for  economical  reasons,  of 
dispensing  with  articles,  prepositions  and  conjunc- 
tions, while  punctuation  is  perforce  out  of  the 
question ;  and  the  "  bulls"  arising  from  this  cause 
cannot  fairly  be  blamed  on  operators. 


134  TELEGRAPHIC    "BULLS." 

Of  such  was  that  occasioned  by  a  message  sent  from 
England  to  the  editor  of  the  Java  Bode,  which  read : 
"Proposed  to  Brand  Speaker,"  meaning  that  Mr. 
Brand  had  been  nominated  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  Printed  as  above,  the  meaning  conveyed 
to  the  readers  of  the  journal  was  that  it  was  proposed 
to  brand  the  Speaker  of  the  august  body  indicated. 

*  Bulls "  in  original  messages  might  be  given  that 
are  fully  as  amusing  as  any  made  by  operators.  For 
example :  "  My  barn  burned  up  last  night,  October  22. 
I  want  you  to  come  and  see  it."  Or  the  following,  sent 
from  Kingston,  N."  T. :  "  To  J.  W.  B.,  Honesdale,  Pa. 
Your  horse  died  this  morning  after  writing  you  a 
letter." 

•  To  show  how  difficult  it  is  to  make  out  some  of  the 
words  in  messages,  and  how  easily  mistakes  may  arise, 
we  give  the  manner  of  spelling  a  number  of  common 
words,  as  found  in  the  dispatches  of  many  patrons  of 
the  telegraph. 

"Cornerchel  "Worf,"  "Comerciol  Warf,"  "  Centrel 
Deapot,"  "  Junktion,"  "  Jursy  Citty,"  "  Nigra  Falls," 
"  Porkepsee,"  "  Moris  Weight  Peches,"  "Pees,"  "Red- 
ash,"  " Turnups, "  " Cllamns,"  "  Eells,"  "Ells,"  "Hadic," 
"Macril,"  "Ancer,"  "Ansewer,"  "Amediately,"  "Ame- 
aditley,"  "  Imegitlay,"  "Busnes,"  "Cittifacat,"  "  Car- 
ridge,"  "Delade,"  "Dolors,"  "Evrey,"  "  Garrentee," 
-'  Pararie,"  "Possable,"  "  Pituculars,"  "  Eesons,"  "  Spe- 
shaU,"  '"Spetial,"  "Seckend,"  "Two-day,"  "Two. 
knight,"  "John  ded  will  bey  berred  tomorrough,"  "I 
will  gow  met  me  at  depow."  An  erudite  Assemblyman 
says  his  "Comity  is  tring  to  do  so." 


TELEGRAPHIC    "BULLS."  135 

Sometimes  most  entertaining  "bulls"  have  arisen 
from  sheer  carelessness  on  the  part  of  senders,  as  in 
the  following  instances : 

A  merchant  away  from  home  received  a  telegram 
announcing  that  his  wife  had  been  safely  delivered  of 
a  little  girl.  Simultaneously  a  message  came  from  his 
partner  stating  that  a  draft  had  been  presented  to  the 
firm  with  a  doubtful  signature,  and  inquiring  if  he 
knew  anything  about  it.  He  at  once  replied  to  both 
messages,  but  somehow  misdirected  them.  The 
amazement  of  the  wife  might  be  conceived  when  she 
was  informed:  "I  know  nothing  about  it :  it's  a  swin- 
dle;" and  of  the  partner  when  he  received  hearty 
congratulations  upon  his  safe  delivery. 

An  enterprising  fish,  dealer  in  an  eastern  city  indited 
a  fish  order  to  "  Paine  Brothers,  Eastport,  Maine,"  but 
his  clerk  inadvertently  made  the  message  read  "  Paine 
Bros.,  New  York,"  a  firm  priding  itself  upon  filling 
every  order.  Consequently  the  fish  was  sent  from  New 
irork,  arriving  fresh  and  nice,  but  with  a  "  C.  O.  D." 
attached,  involving  a  bill  of  expense  which  the 
enterprising  fish  dealer  declared  the  telegraph  com- 
pany should  pay,  or  he  would  bankrupt  the  whole 
concern,  if  it  took  every  dollar  he  was  worth  in  the 
world. 

Operators  could  tell  of  meannesses  on  the  part  of 
the  public,  occasioning  errors,  wrongful  blame,  and 
sometimes  more  serious  consequences,  almost  incred- 
ible in  their  degree  of  contemptibleness. 

"  What  means  it,"  says   a  faithful  manager  of   an 


13U 

oflS.ce,  "  that  Mr. should  come  to  us  and  demand 

that  we  refund  the  money  he  paid  on  that  message  you 
sent  Tiim  ?  He  says  you  paid  for  the  message  when 
you  sent  it."  "I'll  tell  you  how  it  was,"  says  the 
patron,  confidentially ;  "  I  ought  to  have  paid  for  it — 
didn't  want  to  look  mean,  you  know,  so  I  gave  him  to 
understand,  in  a  roundabout  way,  that  I  did  pay. 
Better  be  on  the  telegraph  company  than  on  me,  you 
know  ;  so  you  keep  mum,  it's  all  right." 

Another  example  is  that  of  a  careless  fellow  who 
neglected  till  the  last  moment  to  answer  an  important 
telegram,  and  then,  to  cover  his  delinquency,  replied 
by  telegraph :  "  Did  not  receive  your  message  till  too 
late ;  train  had  left."  "You  see,"  he  explained  to  a 
person  accompanying  him  to  the  office,  "I  don't  want 
to  go,  and  there's  no  other  way  for  me  to  get  out  of 
it."  His  friend,  who  had  waited  all  day  for  the  reply, 
vows  eternal  vengeance  on  the  telegraph  generally,  and 
especially  to  that  "contemptible  apology  for  a  man- 
ager who  would  let  an  important  message  lie  around 
all  day  before  delivering  it!" 

A  correspondent  of  The  Operator,  Mr.  D.  C.  Shaw, 
relates  effectively  the  sad  results  of  an  error  on  the 
part  of  the  sender  of  a  message,  with  which  account 
we  must  conclude  this  chapter. 

"I  was  once  at  a  small  railway  station,"  writes  he, 
"and  saw,  on  his  way  to  the  village  hotel,  a  distin- 
guished passenger  whose  leg  had  just  been  crushed 
by  a  moving  train.  All  that  skill  and  friendly  sei'vices 
could  do  were  instantly  in  operation.  Sympathising 


TELEGRAPHIC    "  BULLS."  137 

and  zealous  young  persons,  at  the  sufferer's  request, 
flew  to  the  telegraph  office  to  summon  the  wife.  Full 
of  excitement  they  write  a  message.  A  letter  is  omit 
ted  from  the  address,  a  single  letter.  The  message  is 
rushed  to  its  destination,  but — and  you  know  the 
sequel.  An  hour  passes;  then  comes  an  office  mes- 
sage, 'Give  better  address.'  The  same  name  is  given, 
with  the  same  fatal  omission,  but  they  add  the  wordSj 

'  Care  of  Messrs. ,  No.  — .'    Another  pause.    Then 

another  office  message:  'Messrs. -have  closed  office 

and  gone  home  to •  (a  suburban  town) ;  shall  we 

deliver  by  special  messenger  f  Meantime  a  train 
arrives — the  train  upon  which  the  wife  should  have 
come.  The  sufferer  rouses  himself  expectantly.  How 
hard  it  is  to  tell  him  she  hasn't  come  !  Then  he  fails 
rapidly,  and  they  fear  the  result.  Meantime  the  mes- 
sage is  delivered  ;  the  wife  is  coming,  but  he  is  uncon- 
scious. And  oh,  the  anathemas  that  pour  in  upon  the 
telegraph  and  all  connected  with  it !  As  the  facts  are 
known  to  but  few  outside  of  the  circle  especially  con- 
cerned, the  circumstances  are  misconstrued  and  exag- 
gerated, and  the  poor  operator,  who  would  willingly 
have  run  with  the  message  through  all  the  hours  of 
the  day  and  night  to  insure  its  safe  delivery,  is 
branded  as  '  cruel,'  '  barbarous,'  and  remains  there 
after  under  a  certain  weight  of  ignominy  through 
many  unjust  accusations." 


138  LIGHTNING   FREAKS. 

LIGHTNING  FREAKS  AND  TRAGEDIES. 

As  has  often  been  said  of  fire  and  water,  the  electric 
fluid  is  an  excellent  servant,  but  a  very  bad  master. 

DEATHS  FROM   LIGHTNING. 

Many  persons  are  killed  by  it  every  year,  probably 
more  than  is  popularly  supposed.  According  to  some 
recently  published  statistics,  more  than  ten  thousand 
people  have  been  smitten  by  the  electric  fluid  within 
the  past  thirty  years,  of  whom  twenty-two  hundred 
and  fifty-two  were  killed  outright.  Of  the  eight  hun- 
dred and  eighty  killed  within  the  last  ten  years,  only 
two  hundred  and  forty-three  were  females. 

The  would-be  wit  of  newspaper  scribblers  has  been 
exercised  upon  this  difference,  the  reason  of  which  is 
clear  when  it  is  considered  that  men  are  exposed  to 
accident  far  more  than  women  are,  because  they  spend 
less  time  at  home,  being  abroad  in  the  pursuit  of  busi- 
ness or  in  labor. 

It  would  be  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  persons 
struck  by  lightning  should  not  be  given  up  as  dead 
for  at  least  three  hours.  During  the  first  two  hours 
they  should  be  drenched  freely  with  cold  water.  If 
this  treatment  fails  to  restore  animation,  salt  should 
be  added  to  the  water,  and  the  drenching  continued 
another  hour. 

EFFECTS    OF    LIGHTNING    IN    DIFFERENT    COUNTRIES. 

A  difference  in  the  effects  of  lightning  in  various 
countries  has  been  remarked.  It  is  said  to  be  more 


LIGHTNING   FREAKS.  139 

dangerous  in  England  than  here.  Why,  so  far  as  our 
knowledge  extends,  nobody  appears  to  offer  a  reason. 
In  France  the  mortality  from  lightning  is  twenty-seven 
a  year  on  the  average,  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
struck.  The  low  lying  departments  have  fewer  cases 
than  hilly  districts.  Eighty  were  wounded  and  nine 
killed  in  one  thunderstorm  at  Chateauneufles-Moutiers 
in  1861 ;  and  within  one  week,  when  the  air  was  highly 
charged  with  electricity,  thirty-three  fearful  flashes  of 
lightning  were  observed,  each  bringing  death  to  some 
victims.  Nine  deaths  a -year  from  lightning  are  re- 
ported from  Switzerland,  and  but  three  from  Belgium, 
a  more  populous  country,  which  confirms  the  alleged 
greater  frequency  of  casualties  from  lightning  in  hilly 
or  mountainous  districts — a  distinction,  however,  which 
cannot  be  applied  to  England. 

AN   OLD   NOTION   EXPLODED. 

The  popular  belief  that  when  one  gets  into  a  feather 
bed  he  is  safe  from  the  ravages  of  lightning  was 
rudely  shocked  by  what  occurred  not  long  ago  in  a 
country  store  in  Virginia  which  was  struck  by  light- 
ning. The  fluid  made  a  large  hole  in  the  roof,  and 
passed  through  a  feather  bed,  the  recognized  non- 
conductor. Happily  no  one  was  lying  upon  it. 

A   TRIPLE   TRAGEDY. 

During  a  severe  lightning  and  thunder  storm  at 
Newberne,  N.  C.,  in  the  summer  of  1878,  three  young 
persons,  Isaac  Richardson,  aged  twenty,  Eliza  Collins, 


140  LIGHTNING   FREAKS. 

twenty,  and  Laura  Williams,  nineteen,  were  struck  by 
a  heavy  discharge  of  electricity  and  instantly  killed. 
Richardson  was  escorting  the  two  girls,  one  on  each 
arm,  from  church  to  their  homes,  and  as  they  neared 
Queen  Street,  a  gentleman,  who  was  but  a  few  feet 
behind,  saw  them  fall  as  a  lightning  flash  struck  them. 
The  coroner  found  the  lifeless  bodies  lying  side  by 
side,  with  arms  still  locked.  At  the  time  of  the  acci- 
dent they  were  walking  under  a  steel-handled  um- 
brella, which  was  found  lying  upon  the  ground  near 
the  bodies,  the  cover  partially  burned,  and  which,  un- 
doubtedly, was  what  attracted  the  electric  discharge. 

SINGULAR    FREAKS    OF    THE    LIGHTNING. 

A  gentleman,  while  walking  the  streets  at  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  during  a  thunder  storm  recently,  had 
one  of  his  eyes  completely  destroyed  by  lightning, 
without  receiving  other  injury. 

A  queer  freak  of  the  lightning  is  reported  from 
Eockville,  Conn.  It  entered  at  the  door  of  one  of  the 
stores  in  a  livid  flash,  which  actually  lit  an  oil  lamp, 
and  left  it  burning,  without  leaving  any  other  visible 
marks  of  its  passage. 

While  a  body  of  two  hundred  men  were  drilling  at 
West  Point,  on  one  occasion,  a  black  cloud,  very  low 
down,  suddenly  discharged  itself  of  its  electricity, 
seemingly  through  the  attraction  of  the  two  hundred 
bright  gun  barrels,  and  the  shock  distributed  itself 
throughout  the  corps.  Several  of  the  men  were 
stunned,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  guns  were 
knocked  out  of  their  owners'  hands. 


LIGHTNING   FREAKS.  141 

Lightning  at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  during  the  win- 
ter struck  into  the  lake,  and  hurled  masses  of  ice  two 
feet  thick  hundreds  of  feet  through  the  air. 

Lightning  recently  struck  a  wine  cellar  in  France, 
and  converted  a  large  quantity  of  bad  wine  into  excel- 
lent brandy,  a  change  appreciated  by  the  owner. 

During  a  heavy  thunder  shower  at  Mechanic  Falls, 
Maine,  in  the  summer  of  1880,  a  boy  was  sitting  at  the 
foot  of  a  Balm  of  Gilead  tree  which  was  struck  by 
lightning.  The  tree  was  splintered,  but  the  boy  was 
apparently  uninjured.  Soon  after  the  accident  he  was 
seized  with  nausea,  and  on  a  physician  removing  the 
little  fellow's  clothing  there  was  found  upon  his  stom- 
ach and  chest  an  imprint  resembling  the  trunk  of  the 
tree,  its  branches  and  buds  as  perfect  as  could  be 
drawn  by  the  hands  of  a  skilled  artist. 

A  thunderbolt  which  came  down  at  Milton,  Conn., 
and  paid  particular  attention  to  the  house  of  a  Mr. 
Brown,  deserves  record  for  its  singular  and  vigorous 
behavior.  It  began  by  demolishing  the  lightning  rod 
in  the  most  sarcastic  and  scornful  manner.  It  then 
entered  a  second  story  room  of  the  house,  cut  a  hole 
six  feet  square  in  the  floor,  demolished  the  stove,  and 
broke  every  pane  of  glass  in  the  window,  after  which 
it  mildly  entered  the  dining  room  and  ripped  up  the 
floor  there.  It  made  minced  meat,  so  to  speak,  of  the 
wash  room,  and  left  the  house  without  any  underpin- 
ning to  speak  of.  Then  it  paid  its  respects  to  the 
barn,  went  back  to  the  house,  and  violated  the  sanctity 
of  a  servant  maid's  room.  The  poor  girl  was  just 


142  LIGHTNING    FREAKS. 

innocently  adjusting  her  hair  in  the  looking-glass 
when  she  was  thrown  violently  backward  on  the  bed 
by  the  furious  thunderbolt,  and  she  says  she  will 
never  be  vain  again.  In  a  neighboring  house  the 
frisky  element  "  scattered  a  quantity  of  soft  soap,  and 
tore  one  rivet  from  a  frying-pan." 

LIGHTNING   IN    TELEGRAPH   OFFICES. 

Although  a  telegraph  office  is  one  of  the  best  places 
to  take  refuge  in  during  a  thunderstorm,  lightning 
sometimes  follows  the  wires  into  the  offices.  During 
severe  storms  telegraph  offices  are  generally  "  cut 
out."  The  switch-board,  through  which  the  wires 
pass  before  reaching  the  instruments,  is  provided 
with  what  are  called  "lightning  arresters,"  so  that 
but  little  damage  can  be  done.  Two  cases  of  death 
by  lightning  in  telegraph  offices  are  on  record,  both 
of  which  occurred  in  the  summer  of  1876.  One 
was  that  of  a  young  woman  in  Nevada,  and  the  other 
a  Miss  Clapp,  manager  of  an  office  in  Massachusetts. 
The  latter  had  the  instruments  "  cut  out,"  but  the 
lightning  came  in  through  the  open  window,  there 
being  a  strong  draught  through  the  office,  which,  of 
course,  should  not  be  permitted  during  a  thunder 
storm. 


SHABP  PBACTIOE  BY  TELEGBAPH.          143 


SHAEP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGEAPH. 

In  common,  we  suppose,  with  every  appliance  of 
modern  civilization,  the  telegraph  is  abused  by  the 
Ishmaelites  in  the  community,  who  prefer  rather  to 
plunder  than  to  work  honestly.  Numerous  examples 
of  this,  some  of  them  indicating  remarkable  ingenuity 
on  the  part  of  the  swindler,  are  published  from  time 
to  time  as  they  occur. 

One  of  these  devices,  unearthed  at  St.  Louis,  con- 
sists in  bringing  two  telegraphic  dispatches  and  a 
messenger's  book  to  a  wealthy  man  for  his  signature, 
the  page  of  the  book  being  so  cut  and  underlaid  with 
a  blank  check  that  the  signing  of  the  name  twice 
would  give  the  clever  operator  a  check  both  signed 
and  indorsed.  One  business  man  narrowly  escaped 
the  trap,  which  failed  for  lack  of  a  little  forethought, 
as  the  paper  beneath,  not  being  securely  fastened, 
slipped  enough  to  attract  attention  as  the  name  was 
being  signed  the  second  time.  This  small  circum- 
stance defeated  the  plan,  and  saved  the  discoverer  a 
big  deficit  in  his  bank  account. 

OBLIGE    THE   GENERAL. 

On  one  occasion,  when  General  McClellan  was  in 
Europe,  many  prominent  New  Yorkers  received,  as 
they  supposed  from  him,  cablegrams  to  the  effect  that, 
having  purchased  a  horse,  for  instance,  from  say  John 
Smith,  for  $420,  it  would  be  considered  a  particular 


U4          SHARP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH. 

favor  if  the  person  addressed  would  pay  Mr.  Smith 
the  amount,  which  would  be  made  right  on  the  gen- 
eral's return.  This  dispatch  was  usually  delivered  in 
the  forenoon,  while  Mr.  Smith  made  his  appearance  in 
the  afternoon  with  the  bill  and  presented  a  telegram 
purporting  to  be  signed*  by  General  McClellan,  re- 
questing him  to  call  at  that  address  for  the  amount. 
The  money  in  nearly  every  case  was  paid,  and  in  this 
way  about  a  dozen  persons  were  victimized.  The  mes- 
sages were  not  all  alike.  Sometimes  it  was  a  house 
the  general  had  rented  or  bought,  with  the  amount 
correspondingly  higher.  Sometimes  it  was  jewelry, 
and  at  other  times  something  else.  The  swindlers 
^ere  eventually  caught,  however,  and  severely  sen- 
tenced. 

A   MODERN    "  ST.    JOHN." 

Some  Cincinnati  and  Indianapolis  merchants  were 
similarly  swindled  by  a  gang  of  whom  a  former  oper- 
ator of  the  Western  Union  named  James  P.  St.  John, 
who  afterward  assumed  the  name  of  White,  was  a 
prominent  member.  Early  one  morning  St.  John 
called  at  the  Western  Union  branch  office,  Third 
Street,  Cincinnati.  Being  early,  no  one  was  present 
but  the  janitor.  St.  John  represented  himself  as  an 
employe  of  the  main  office,  said  he  wanted  to  trace  a 
message,  and  asked  to  see  the  messenger's  delivery 
book.  The  book  was  afterward  missing,  and  the 
matter  reported  to  Manager  Armstrong.  It  was  not 
found  until  a  week  later,  when  the  cashier  of  the  La- 
fayette Bank  called  at  the  main  office  to  ascertain 


8HAKP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH.          145 

whether  a  dispatch  received  from  Saratoga,  N.  ¥., 
signed  "  Springer,"  and  ordering  payment  to  Dublin 
&  Co.  of  $450  for  jewelry,  was  genuine.  The  dispatch 
was  written  on  a  regular  No.  1  blank.  Mr.  Armstrong 
pronounced  it  a  forgery.  A  short  time  afterward 
when  a  young  man  presented  the  bill  to  the  paying 
teller  of  the  bank,  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned, 
and  proved  to  be  the  same  person  who  stole  the  mes- 
senger's book.  Another  forged  dispatch,  similar  to 
the  above,  purporting  to  be  sent  by  H.  Hirsch,  who 
was  East,  was  delivered  at  the  store  of  H.  Hirsch  & 
Co.  same  day,  requesting  them  to  pay  Duhun  &  Co. 
$300  for  goods  previously  purchased  by  him.  In  this 
case  the  swindlers  were  more  successful.  A  confede- 
rate of  St.  John's  shortly  afterward  presented  a  bill 
for  $300  on  one  of  Duhun  &  Co.'s  billheads,  and  a 
check  for  the  amount  on  one  of  the  Cincinnati  banks 
was  given  him.  Instead  of  presenting  the  check  at 
the  bank  he  went  direct  to  the  establishment  of  Du- 
hun &  Co.,  where  he  represented  himself  as  an  em- 
ploye of  Hirsch  &  Co.,  gave  a  plausible  excuse  for 
the  check  being  drawn  in  favor  of  Duhun  &  Co., 
selected  seventy-five  dollars  worth  of  jewelry,  and 
received  $225  change,  the  check  being  pronounced 
genuine  at  the  bank.  Upon  learning  of  the  arrest  of 
his  confederate  he  left  the  city. 

At  Indianapolis  a  jeweler  was  similarly  victimized 
out  of  $285  by  St.  John.  The  Cincinnati  parties  con- 
senting, a  requisition  was  procured  for  him,  and  he 
was  conveyed  to  Indianapolis  and  tried,  convicted,  and 


146          8HABP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH. 

sentenced  to  eight  years'  imprisonment.  His  confed- 
erate, who  victimized  Duhun  &  Co.,  and  whose  name 
has  not  transpired,  was  finally  traced  to  Chicago, 
where  he  was  arrested  and  returned  to  Cincinnati  for 
trial.  He  had  in  his  possession  when  arrested  a  num 
ber  of  telegraph  blanks  stolen  at  New  York,  Baltimore, 
and  other  points. 

BIG   SWINDLE   IN   TOLEDO. 

Another  example  of  swindling  reaches  us  from 
Toledo,  where  a  business  firm,  who  are  largely  engaged 
in  the  grain  trade,  received  what  purported  to  be  a 
dispatch  from  a  correspondent  named  Wilson,  at  Jack- 
son, Michigan,  stating  that  there  was  a  good  opening 
at  Dexter  for  purchasing  wheat,  and  requesting  the 
Toledo  firm  to  send  him  $1,000  by  American  Express, 
and  to  notify  him  by  telegraph  when  the  money  was 
sent. 

A  package  containing  the  amount  required  was  ac- 
cordingly placed  in  the  express  office  at  Toledo, 
addressed  to  Mr.  Wilson,  Dexter,  and  a  telegram  also 
sent  to  Wilson,  notifying  him  of  the  fact.  About  the 
same  time  the  express  agent  at  Dexter  received  a  tele 
gram  from  Jackson,  signed  Wilson,  directing  him  to 
deliver  the  package  to  a  man  who  would  call  for  it. 
describing  in  the  telegram  minutely  a  man  who  after- 
ward called,  asked  for,  and  received  the  $1,000  pack-' 
age.  For  a  week  or  two  the  Toledo  firm  quietly 
awaited  advices  from  Wilson  in  reference  to  his  wheat 
purchases,  and  in  the  meantime  the  parties  who  had 


SHARP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH.          147 

sent  forged  telegrams  and  obtained  the  money,  felt  so 
jubilant  at  their  success  that  they  told  a  confidential 
chum  at  Jackson  how  they  had  operated. 

"  SPIRITUALISTIC  "    SWINDLING. 

A  class  of  persons  who  live  on  the  amiable  credulity 
of  the  public,  find  the  electric  fluid  a  useful  auxiliary. 
We  mean  the  "  spiritualists,"  so  called,  whose  success 
in  making  money  from  the  rich  and  ostensibly  the  cul- 
tured is  no  less  remarkable  than  that  of  the  advertis- 
ing "  clairvoyants,"  and  the  rest  of  the  swindling 
sisterhood,  who  show  a  poor  girl  the  portrait  of  her 
"future  husband,"  for  a  "consideration"  propor- 
tioned to  the  slender  means  of  the  ignorant  victim. 
The  fraud  of  "  spiritualism  "  has  not  as  yet  been  fully 
exposed,  but  enough  has  been  discovered  to  make  it 
plain  that  "  mediums  "  are  largely  indebted  for  the 
manifestations  they  develop  to  the  electric  fluid. 

MR.  FAULKNER'S  REVELATIONS. 

Mr.  Faulkner  is  a  philosophical  instrument  maker, 
doing  business  in  London.  He  writes  that  for  many 
years  he  has  had  a  large  sale  for  spirit-rapping  mag- 
nets and  batteries,  expressly  made  for  concealment 
under  the  floor,  in  cupboards,  under  tables,  and  even 
for  the  interior  of  the  centre  support  of  large  round 
tables  and  boxes  ;  that  he  has  supplied  to  the  same 
parties  quantities  of  prepared  wire,  to  be  placed  un- 
der the  carpets  and  oil-cloth,  or  under  the  wainscot 


148          SHARP  PBACTICE  BY  TELEQEAPH. 

and  gilt  beading  around  ceilings  and  rooms — in  fact, 
for  every  conceivable  place  ;  that  all  these  were  ob- 
viously used  for  spirit  rapping,  and  the  connection  to 
each  rapper  and  battery  was  to  be  made  by  means  of 
a  small  button,  like  those  used  for  telegraphic  bell 
ringing  purposes,  or  by  means  of  a  brass-headed  or 
other  nail  under  the  carpet,  of  particular  patterns 
known  to  the  spiritualists.  He  describes  these  rap- 
pers as  calculated  to  mislead  the  most  wary,  and  adds 
that  there  are  spirit-rapping  magnets  and  batteries 
constructed  expressly  for  the  pocket,  which  will  rap 
at  any  part  of  the  room.  He  has  also  made  drums 
and  bells  which  will  beat  and  ring  at  command  ;  but 
these  two  latter  are  not  so  frequently  used  as  the 
magnets  are,  because  they  are  too  easily  detected. 

MAGNETS   FOB    "  SPIRIT    RAPPING." 

A  correspondent  of  the  English  Mechanic's  Magazine 
has  written  an  account  of  his  methods  of  preparing 
apparatus  for  "  spirit-rapping  "  meeting.  We  reprint 
it  in  his  own  words : 

"In  making  my  magnets  for  electric  or  'spirit-rap- 
ping '  drums  I  proceeded  as  follows :  I  took  five  bars 
of  J  inch  iron  (one  of  them  being  very  soft),  10  inches 
long,  and  filed  them  up.  Around  four  of  them  I 
wound  five  layers  of  32  silk-covered  wire.  Eemember, 
the  layers  were  complete,  and  all  leading  the  current 
in  the  same  direction.  Around  the  fifth  I  put  one 
layer.  Of  course  the  bars  were  bent  into  horseshoe 
shape.  The  magnets  were  bound  together  so  as  to 


SHARP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH.          149 

bring  the  fifth  or  last  as  near  as  possible  in  the  center, 
and  its  ends  to  project  l-64th  inch  beyond  the  others. 
A  piece  of  zinc  as  thin  as  writing  paper  was  next 
soldered  on  one  pole  of  the  centre  magnet.  Now  for 
the  keeper.  It  was  made  of  a  piece  of  soft  iron  l-16th 
inch  thick  and  about  3  inches  square ;  one  side  of  it 
had  a  half  of  a  split  lead  bullet  soldered  to  the  cen- 
tre. This  gave  the  keeper  weight,  and  prevented  it 
from  recoiling  when  it  fell.  I  had  three,  and  some- 
times four,  guide  bars  on  my  keepers  ;  but  I  believe 
that,  for  all  ordinary  purposes,  two  are  sufficient. 
These  bars  are  made  very  smooth,  and  fitted  into  holes 
made  in  the  brass  framework  supporting  the  magnets. 
The  whole  was  now  placed  inside  the  drum.  A  word 
about  this  drum.  In  the  first  place,  it  should  be  a 
very  common  looking  one ;  secondly,  it  should  be— in 
fact  must  be — pretty  large,  say  at  least  2  feet  in  diam- 
eter— the  larger  the  better.  In  fastening  the  '  electric 
drummer '  inside,  do  so  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  not 
affect  the  sound.  If  your  magnets  are  of  good  iron — 
that  is,  soft  and  without  flaws — and  well  made,  you 
will  be  able  to  work  the  keeper  from  a  depth  of  half 
an  inch,  which,  when  it  falls  on  the  bottom  of  a  large 
drum,  will  make  a  pretty  loud  thud.  Now  get  two  of 
those  brass  rings  with  the  brass  screws  attached, 
used  for  boxes,  &c.,  and  fasten  them  through  the 
woodwork  in  the  top  of  the  drum,  and  solder  the 
collected  ends  of  the  magnet  wire  to  them.  Next 
close  the  drum  up,  and  it  is  ready.  Now,  suppose  you 
wish  to  amuse  a  number  of  people  in  your  own  rooms, 


150         SHARP  PBACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH, 

you  must  find  a  way  from  the  battery  to  the  center  of 
the  room  ceiling  for  the  wires,  so  that  they  will  be 
screened  from  observation.  Let  the  wires  terminate 
in  two  hooks  to  catch  the  drum-rings.  By  the  bye,  it 
looks  less  suspicious  to  hang  the  drum  on  three  hooks, 
which  you  can  easily  do.  You  can  use  a  battery  of 
six  pint  Daniell's  cells,  and  have  a  contact  breaker  in 
another  room,  to  be  attended  to  by  a  friend ;  or,  if  you 
can  manage  it,  run  the  wires  under  the  carpet,  and 
work  the  contact  with  the  heel  of  your  boot,  having  a 
spring  for  raising  the  top  wire  when  the  pressure  is 
off.  Use  one  beat  for  '  no,'  two  for  '  doubtful,'  and 
three  for  '  yes.' 

SIR   CHARLES   WHEATSTONE?S   EXPERIMENTS. 

This  eminent  gentleman  exhibited  some  curious 
electrical  experiments  for  the  amusement  of  his 
friends,  in  which  the  developments  were  remarkably 
like  those  greedily  devoured  by  the  believers  in  spir- 
itualism who  patronize  the  magazines  which  support 
that  delusion.  We  read  that  in  a  dark  room,  by  a 
stamp  of  his  foot,  Sir  Charles  produced  a  brilliant 
crown  of  electric  light  in  mid-air,  while  musical  instru- 
ments seemed  to  be  played  by  invisible  hands ; 
whereas  the  sounds  really  came  from  an  adjoining 
room,  in  which  the  player  sat,  and,  by  an  ingenious 
contrivance,  were  made  to  appear  to  be  produced  by 
the  instruments  before'  the  spectators.  A  contest 
between  science  and  the  "  spirits  "  in  their  own 
chosen  feats  would  be  almost  as  memorable  as  the 


SHARP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH,          151 

celebrated  competition  between  Moses  and  the  ma- 
gicians. 

SHARP   WORK   BY   OPERATORS. 

The  accounts  we  shall  give  under  this  head  may  not 
be  thought,  perhaps,  to  cast  the  same  discredit  or 
guilt  upon  the  parties  involved  as  in  the  foregoing ; 
but  the  reader  with  the  least  moral  sensibility  cannot 
object  to  our  use  of  the  phrase  "  sharp  work,"  al- 
though he  might  prefer  the  substitution  of  the  adjec- 
tive "  smart "  for  the  one  employed.  The  first  two 
tell  the  manner  in  which  two  poor  operators  became 
capitalists  by  the  exercise  of  their  abundant  wit,  to 
speak  as  gently  as  may  be. 

A  youth  of  nineteen,  who  was  a  telegraph  operator 
in  Virginia  City,  on  a  salary  of  a  hundred  dollars  a 
month,  and  who,  when  he  could  not  make  out  German 
names  in  the  list  of  San  Francisco  steamer  arrivals, 
used  to  ingeniously  select  and  supply  substitutes  for 
them  out  of  an  old  Berlin  city  directory,  made  himself 
rich  by  watching  the  mining  telegrams  that  passed 
through  his  hands,  and  buying  and  selling^  stocks  ac- 
cordingly, through  a  friend  in  San  Francisco.  Once, 
when  a  private  dispatch  was  sent  from  Virginia,  an- 
nouncing a  rich  strike  in  a  prominent  mine,  and  advis- 
ing that  the  matter  be  kept  secret  till  a  large  amount 
of  the  stock  could  be  secured,  he  bought  forty  "  feet " 
of  the  stock  at  twenty  dollars  a  foot,  and  afterward 
sold  half  of  it  at  eight  hundred  dollars  a  foot,  and  the 
rest  at  double  that  figure.  Within  three  months  he 


152          SHARP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH. 

was  worth  $150,000  and  had  resigned  his  telegraphic 
position. 

Another  operator,  who  had  been  discharged  by  his 
company  for  divulging  the  secrets  of  the  office,  agreed 
with  a  moneyed  man  in  San  Francisco  to  furnish  him 
the  result  of  a  great  Virginia  mining  lawsuit  within  an 
hour  after  its  private  reception  by  the  parties  to  it  in 
San  Francisco.  For  this  he  was  to  have  a  large  per- 
centage of  the  profits  on  purchases  and  sales  made  on 
it  by  his  fellow  conspirator.  So  he  went,  disguised  as 
a  teamster,  to  a  little  wayside  telegraph  office  in  the 
mountains,  got  acquainted  with  the  operator,  and  sat 
in  the  office  day  after  day,  smoking  his  pipe,  complain- 
ing that  his  team  was  fagged  out  and  unable  to  travel 
— and  meantime  listening  to  the  dispatches  as  they 
passed  over  the  wire  from  Virginia.  Finally,  the  pri- 
vate dispatch  announcing  the  result  of  the  lawsuit 
sped  along  the  wires,  and  as  soon  as  he  heard  it  he 
telegraphed  his  friend  in  San  Francisco: 

"Am  tired  waiting.  Shall  sell  the  team  and  go 
home." 

This  was  the  signal  agreed  upon.  The  word  "  wait- 
ing "  left  out  would  have  signified  that  the  suit  had 
gone  the  other  way.  The  mock  teamster's  friend 
picked  up  a  large  amount  of  the  mining  stock  at  low 
figures  before  the  news  became  public,  and  a  fortune 
was  the  result. 

TAMPERING   WITH    CIPHER    MESSAGES    AND    THE   RESULT. 

A  San  Francisco,  California,  newspaper  gives  the 
following  interesting  account  of  what  came  of  tamper- 


SHARP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH.  153 

ing  with  cipher  dispatches,  in  which  it  is  shown  that 
the  operator  and  his  friends  did  not  in  this  instance 
fare  quite  so  well  as  did  the  others  above  alluded  to. 

"  The  business  office  of  the  Chollar  Mining  Company 
is  in  San  Francisco,  and  its  works  in  Virginia  City, 
Nevada.  Correspondence  between  the  superintendent 
at  the  latter  place  and  the  business  office  is  kept  up  by 
both  letter  and  telegraph,  and,  to  prevent  any  inquisi- 
tive person  from  obtaining  the  contents  of  the  tele- 
gTams  in  advance  of  their  receipt  by  the  officers  of  the 
company,  a  cipher  was  used.  It  had  become  apparent 
that  certain  brokers  of  San  Francisco  were  regularly 
in  receipt  of  reliable  information  concerning  the  con- 
dition of  the  mine,  even  before  such  information  was 
obtained  at  the  company's  office.  Just  as  soon  as  the 
superintendent  in  Virginia  would  send  a  cipher  tele- 
gram stating  that  ore  had  been  struck  in  any  level  or 
drift,  these  brokers  would  be  on  the  street  buying 
stock.  Whenever  he  telegraphed  bad  news,  they 
would  appear  as  sellers  at  cash,  or  to  deliver. 

"That  the  trick  was  somewhere  in  the  telegraph 
offices  was  evident,  and  to  confirm  this  a  plan  was  ar 
ranged,  to  which  the  superintendent,  the  office  in  San 
Francisco  and  the  telegraph  company  were  parties. 
The  superintendent  presented  a  cipher  telegram, 
which,  when  interpreted,  read  after  this  style :  '  Have 
struck  the  ledge;  very  ri"h;  buy  3,000  shares  if  you 
can.' 

"Although  no  one  knew  that  this  telegram  was  to  be 
sent,  and  so  far  from  the  ledge  having  been  struck  the 


154          SHABP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH. 

workmen  had  not  been  at  work  in  the  drift,  yet,  before 
this  cipher  was  received  at  the  San  Francisco  office,  an- 
other telegram,  addressed  to  the  suspected  brokers 
had  been  sent  and  received,  which  contained  precisely 
the  same  information  and  advice.  On  the  strength  of 
this  these  brokers  rushed  frantically  out  of  their  offices 
and  commenced  buying  up  Chollar  stock  at  any  price. 
In  the  Board  they  pursued  the  same  plan,  and  finally 
loaded  themselves  with  the  stock,  which  rose  in  value 
as  they  bought,  and  sank  when  they  ceased  buying, 
their  loss  being  estimated  at  between  $15,000  and 
$20,000. 

"A  telegraph  operator  in  the  Virginia  City  office  was 
immediately  charged  with  having  translated  the  cipher 
telegram,  and  upon  the  presentation  of  the  evidence 
acknowledged  his  offence,  and  confessed  the  names  of 
the  brokers  by  whom  he  had  been  subsidized." 

THE   BITERS   BIT. 

The  following  shows  how  the  best  laid  plans  do  not 
always  bring  the  results  that  we  desire: 

During  General  McClellan's  campaign  in  the  Penin- 
sula the  gold  and  grain  speculators  of  a  certain  city 
in  a  Northwestern  State,  organized  an  independent 
board  or  club,  and  had  a  wire  run  in  from  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  office. 

The  manager  of  the  Western  Union  office  soon  be- 
came satisfied  that  there  was  a  leak  somewhere;  for 
certain  persons  who  did  not  belong  to  the  club  re- 
ceived the  daily  news  sent  to  this  branch  office  as  soon 


SHARP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH.          155 

as  the  parties  to  whom  the  dispatches  were  addressed, 
and  speculated  thereon.  Investigation  disclosed  the 
fact  that  a  meek  looking  young  man,  an  operator  in  a 
country  office,  had  been  imported  for  the  occasion ; 
and,  sauntering  about  the  room  with  other  outsiders, 
absorbed  the  contents  of  the  dispatches,  and  instantly 
hied  forth  and  communicated  them  to  his  employers. 

Accordingly,  having  arranged  a  bogus  dispatch,  de- 
feating McClellan  with  terrible  slaughter,  and  sending 
gold  up  three  or  four  per  cent.,  the  manager  notified 
the  bonafide  subscribers  not  to  act  upon  it,  and  sent 
it  from  the  main  office  early  in  the  morning. 

The  gentleman  from  the  country  swallowed  it,  and 
his  friends  bought  gold  ad  libitum  of  the  bona  fide 
members,  who  chuckled  at  the  trap  they  had  caught 
the  chaps  in. 

Great  was  the  glee  of  the  members  of  the  board. 
They  had  caught  the  miscreants  at  last — and  wouldn't 
they  squeeze  them ! 

"When  the  regular  dispatches  were  received,  however, 
it  was  found  that  McClellan  had  been  whipped !  and 
gold  had  gone  up,  even  higher  than  the  bogus  dispatch 
stated.  Tableau ! 

The  country  operator  retired,  with  his  friends,  on 
his  share  of  the  earnings,  and  the  bonafide  board  was 
many  thousands  of  dollars  poorer. 

A   BANK   SWINDLED    BY   BOGUS   MESSAGES. 

A  gentleman  who  recently  returned  from  a  business 
trip  to  Texas,  relates  how  a  bank  was  swindled  out  of 


156          SHAKP  PBACTICE  BY  TELEGBAPH. 

$10,000  by  three  telegraph  operators.  It  is  highly 
improbable  that  there  is  much  truth  in  the  story,  yet 
there  is  a  bare  possibility  that  such  a  scheme  might 
be  successfully  carried  out,  and  its  publication  may 
have  the  effect  of  putting  banks  and  telegraph  man- 
agers on  their  guard. 

This  gentleman  says  that  one  day  a  well-dressed  man 
of  business  appearance  presented  at  one  of  the  banks 
in  Dallas,  Texas,  a  check  for  $10,000  on  a  well-known 
New  York  banking  house,  and  desired  it  cashed. 

He  brought  with  him  numerous  letters  of  recom- 
mendation from  persons  with  whom  the  bank  had 
business  transactions,  and,  so  far  as  surf  ace 'indication 
went,  everything  was  right.  But  $10,000  was  a  con 
siderable  sum  to  pay  out,  even  on  the  very  best  docu- 
ments of  recommendation,  and  the  bank  officers  hesi- 
tated, wavered,  and  finally  declined  to  cash  the  check. 
But  the  stranger  was  importunate.  "Gentlemen," 
said  he,  "I  came  to  Texas  to  invest  this  money  in  cot- 
ton. It  is  very  necessary  that  this  check  should  be 
cashed  or  I  will  be  greatly  inconvenienced.  Suppose 
you  telegraph  to  New  York  to  this  banking  house  ? 
Ask  them  about  me  ;  I  will  pay  all  expenses." 

Nothing  could  be  more  plausible  than  this  ;  nothing 
sound  more  honest.  So  a  dispatch  was  sent  asking 
about  the  stranger  and  the  check,  and  in  a  short  time 
came  the  answer  to  the  effect  that  it  was  all  right,  and 
the  Dallas  Bank  would  confer  a  favor  on  the  New  York 
firm  by  accommodating  their  cotton  specvilative  friend 
and  cashing  the  check.  Still  the  bank  officers  were 


8HAKP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH.          157 

not  satisfied,  and  another  dispatch  was  sent.  Again 
the  answer  was  of  a  similar  tenor,  only  probably  a 
little  more  emphasis  was  added  to  it.  This  was  satis- 
factory, and  the  check  was  duly  cashed. 

When  at  night  the  Dallas  office,  as  usual,  came 
to  compare  the  number  of  messages  sent  during  the 
day  with  the  number  received  from  it  by  the  several 
offices  with  which  it  was  in  communication,  it  was 
found  that  neither  of  the  dispatches  sent  by  the 
bank  had  been  received  at  the  office  to  which  they 
should  have  gone,  and  consequently  no  answers 
could  have  been  sent.  It  was  evident  that  the  bank 
had  been  swindled,  but  how  ?  There  was  the  mys- 
tery. The  dispatches  had  been  regularly  received; 
they  had  come  from  somewhere,  but  where  from  could 
not  be  known.  The  cotton  speculator  had  disappeared 
with  the  funds,  and  the  bank  officials  were  at  their 
wits'  ends. 

In  a  day  or  two  the  mystery  was  solved.  Two  ope- 
rators, who  had  been  employed  in  the  Dallas  office,  and 
had  resigned  on  the  day  before  the  well-dressed 
stranger  made  his  appearance,  had  gone  a  few  miles 
out  of  Dallas,  taken  possession  of  an  old  shanty  by 
the  roadside,  attached  an  instrument  to  the  wires,  and 
taken  off  the  dispatches  intended  for  New  York.  They 
had  then  sent  pre-arranged  answers.  The  three  were 
confederates,  and  the  operators  knew  about  the  tune 
the  bogus  speculator  would  enter  the  bank,  and  when 
to  attach  the  instruments.  It  was  an  adroit  scheme 
and  successfully  carried  out.  The  bank  got  no  clew 


158          SHAKP  PRACTICE  BY  TELEGRAPH. 

to  the  swindlers,  but  learned  a  valuable  lesson,  paying 
a  high  price  for  tuition. 

TELEGRAPHIC  TRAP  FOR  BURGLARS. 

This  chapter  will  be  fitly  concluded  with  an  account 
of  a  device  to  catch  safe-burglars,  the  invention  of  a 
Mr.  Barb,  of  London,  who  has  patented  it.  The  dep- 
redator no  sooner  begins  to  force  open  the  door,  drill 
the  lock,  or  move  the  safe,  than  by  so  doing  he  sends 
a  telegraphic  message  to  the  nearest  police  office,  ex- 
hibiting the  number  of  the  safe  he  is  attacking ;  and 
this  number,  registered  in  the  police-books,  has  oppo- 
site to  it  the  address  of  the  house  in  which  the  robbery 
is  being  effected.  The  invention  is  a  very  simple 
thing.  An  instrument  termed  the  "communicator" 
is  fitted  inside  the  safe ;  it  consists  of  a  small  bolt, 
which  is  forced  back  upon  a  coil-spring  when  the 
door  is  closed,  and  which,  in  opening  or  moving  the 
door,  is  instantly  set  in  motion.  In  connection  with 
this  bolt  wires  are  led  through  the  bottom  or  the  back 
of  the  safe  and  concealed  in  the  wall,  or  inclosed 
within  gas  or  water  pipes,  and,  communicating  with 
the  street  telegraph  wires,  are  connected  with  the 
"  alarm "  and  indicator  at  the  police-station.  The 
effect  of  tampering  with  the  door  or  other  part  of  the 
safe  is  to  sound  the  alarm-bell  at  the  police-station, 
and  to  exhibit  on  the  face  of  the  instrument  the  num- 
ber of  the  safe.  Arrangements  are,  of  course,  made 
to  obviate  sending  of  alarms  on  ordinary  and  legiti- 
mate occasions  of  using  the  safe,  by  simply  putting 


8HAKP  PBACTIOB  B¥  TBLEORAPH.          169 

the  apparatus  out  of  gear  at  the  pleasure  of  the  owner. 
The  simple  operation  of  turning  a  small  key  is  all  that 
is  required  to  render  the  wires  available,  after  which 
the  owner  may  leave  his  premises,  perfectly  confident 
that  electricity  will  keep  a  tireless  watch  over  the 
property  left  in  its  custody. 


160  THE    TELEGRAPH 


THE  TELEGRAPH  AN  UNIVERSAL  INSTI- 
TUTION. 

We  need  scarcely  say  to  the  intelligent  reader  of 
these  pages  that  the  use  of  the  telegraph  may  now  be 
said  to  be  universal  throughout  the  world. 

As  an  illustration  of  this  universality,  we  may  cite 
the  transmission  of  a  telegraphic  message  sent  by 
Courtney,  the  Auburn,  New  York  State,  oarsman,  to 
Trickett,  a  brother  in  his  profession,  then  resident  in 
Australia.  This  message  was  sent  from  Auburn  to  New 
York  City,  thence  to  Heart's  Content,  Newfoundland, 
the  cable  end,  thence  to  Valentia,  on  the  coast  of 
Ireland,  thence  to  London,  then  through  Germany, 
Ruasia,  Siberia,  thence  to  "Wladiwodstock,  a  point  on 
the  coast  of  Manchuria  :  thence  through  Japan  Sea  to 
Nagasaki,  on  one  of  the  Japan  Islands,  through  the 
Yellow  Sea,  to  Shanghai,  China,  thence  down  tie  coast 
of  China  through  China  Sea  to  Taigon,  Siam,  to  Sin- 
gapore, Malay,  thence  to  Batavia,  on  the  coast  of  Java, 
thence  to  St.  Darwin,  on  the  northern  coast  to  Aus- 
tralia, and  lastly  to  Sydney. 

Many  interesting  things  are  told  of  the  introduction 
of  lightning  as  a  servant  in  countries  which  do  not 
rank  high  in  the  possession  of  that  civilization  which 
may  be  characterized  as  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

SUPERSTITION    IN    SPAIN. 

Not  long  ago  a  London  newspaper  published  an 
account  from  a  town  called  Lorca,  in  Spain,  described 


AN    UNIVERSAL    INSTITUTION.  161 

as  containing  twenty  thousand  people,  and  a  thriving 
commercial  centre.  The  people  in  the  neighborhood 
of  this  place  firmly  believe  in  the  existence  of  certain 
wizards — mysterious  beings,  with  pale  faces  and  long 
white  beards,  who,  hid  during  the  day,  hunt  at  night 
for  children,  whom  they  devour.  The  fat  of  these 
children  they  are  said  to  keep  sacredly  for  two  pur- 
poses— first,  as  a  sovereign  cure  for  small  pox  ;  and, 
secondly,  to  grease  the  wires  of  the  electric  telegraph, 
which  is  in  itself  a  satanic  invention,  and  would  not 
work  at  all  were  it  not  for  the  lubricating  oil  obtained 
from  the  bodies  of  innocent  little  children. 


After  this  who  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  upon 
the  introduction  of  the  electric  telegraph  into  Mo- 
rocco it  was  vehemently  opposed  by  many  who  looked 
at  the  progress  of  the  work  with  religious  horror  ? 
The  emperor  threatened  with  death  any  person  who 
should  injure  the  apparatus,  but  the  inhabitants  of 
the  little  village  of  Mahovany,  nevertheless,  cut  down 
the  wires.  The  irate  emperor  straightway  had  the 
place  surrounded  by  his  troops,  and  the  heads  of  ten 
prominent  citizens  were  forthwith  cut  off  and  fixed  on 
the  telegfaph  poles,  as  an  awful  warning. 

CHINA. 

The  first  telegraph  (telephone)  line  in  China  was  six 
miles  in  length,  and  erected  about  two  years  ago  by 
Li  Hung  Chang,  viceroy  of  China,  from  his  official 


162  THE    TELEGKAPH 

residence  to  the  Tietsen  arsenal.  There  was  no  at- 
tempt at  interference  by  the  native  populace,  as  in 
the  case  of  telegraphs  projected  by  foreigners ;  but  it  is 
stated  that  the  people  were  afraid  of  the  apparatus, 
thinking  that  little  devils  run  along  the  wire  and  carry 
the  messages.  In  consequence  of  this  superstition 
they  had  previously  torn  down  a  few  lines  put  up  by 
foreigners.  We  may  add  that  such  outrages  do  not 
now  attend  the  erection  of  telegraphs  in  the  Celestial 
Empire. 


When  the  electric  telegraph  was  established  by  the 
English  in  India,  its  introduction  was  accompanied 
with  curious  and  difficult  problems.  In  the  first 
place,  it  was  discovered  that  the  air  of  India  is  in  a 
state  of  constant  electrical  perturbation  of  the  strong- 
est kind,  so  that  the  instruments  there  mounted  went 
into  a  high  fever,  and  refused  to  work.  Along  the  north 
and  south  lines  a  current  of  electricity  was  constantly 
passing,  which  threw  the  needles  out  of  gear,  and 
baffled  the  signalers.  Moreover,  the  tremendous 
thunder-storms  ran  up  and  down  the  wires,  and  melted 
the  conductors  ;  the  monsoon  winds  tore  the  teak- 
posts  out  of  the  sodden  ground ;  the  elephants  and 
buffaloes  trampled  the  fallen  lines  into  kinks  and  tan- 
gles ;  the  Delta  aborigines  carried  off  the  timber  sup- 
ports for  fuel,  and  the  wire  or  iron  rods  upon  them  to 
make  bracelets  and  supply  the  Hindoo  smitheries  ;  and 
the  cotton  and  ice  boats,  kedging  up  and  down  the 


AN   UNIVERSAL   INSTITUTION.  163 

river,  dragged  the  subaqueous  wires  to  the  surface. 
In  addition  to  these  graver  difficulties  were  many  of 
an  amusing  character.  Wild  pigs  and  tigers  scratched 
their  skins  against  the  posts  in  the  jungle,  and  porcu- 
pines and  bandicoots  burro  wed  them  out  of  the  ground. 
Kites,  fishing  eagles  and  hooded  crows  came  in  hun- 
dreds and  perched  upon  the  line  to  see  what  on  earth 
it  could  mean,  and  sometimes  were  found  dead  by 
dozens,  the  victims  of  their  curiosity.  Monkeys 
climbed  the  posts  and  ran  along  the  lines,  chattering 
and  dropping  an  interfering  tail  from  one  wire  to 
another,  which  tended  to  confound  conversations  with 
Calcutta. 

EAELIEST    TELEGRAPHS   IN   THE   EAST. 

One  of  the  earliest  telegraph  lines  in  Eastern  coun- 
tries was  a  private  line  erected  in  1859,  from  Teheran 
to  Sultanieh,  where  the  shah  of  Persia  temporarily 
resided.  This  line,  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  miles 
long,  after  being  used  one  summer,  was  abolished. 
Of  the  construction  of  the  line  from  Shahrud  to 
Meshed,  the  Persian  inspector-general  of  telegraphs 
reported :  "  The  workmen  suffered  very  much  from 
want  of  water  and  from  heat.  During  the  two  months 
of  June  and  July,  1876,  the  heat  in  the  plains,  with 
quite  a  cool  wind  blowing,  rose  to  140°  Fahrenheit, 
while  the  heat  in  the  shade  once  rose  to  112°  Fahren- 
heit. Great  anxiety  was  felt  on  account  of  the  Turco- 
mans, who  were  expected  to  attack  us  every  day,  but 
not  a  single  Turcoman  was  seen."  The  first  through 


164  THE    TELEGRAPH 

telegraph  to  the  far  East  was  erected  by  the  Turkish 
government  in  1863,  and  extended  from  Constantinople 
through  Asia  Minor,  by  way  of  Mosul,  to  Bagdad.  In 
1864  the  government  of  British  India  built  a  line  on 
iron  standards,  from  Bagdad  to  Fao,  at  the  head  of 
the  Persian  Gulf.  This  line  was  subsequently  handed 
over  to  the  Turks,  and  was  deemed  so  unsafe,  passing 
as  it  did  through  a  region  where  the  Porte  had  really 
little  or  no  authority,  that  after  the  submarine  cable 
from  Fao  to  Kurachee  had  been  laid,  a  telegraph  line 
was  put  up  by  British  officers,  but  at  the  cost  of  the 
Persian  government,  from  Bushire  via  Theran  to 
Bagdad. 

The  proclamation  by  which  the  king  of  Burmah  an- 
nounced his  intention  to  construct  a  system  of  tele- 
graphy for  the  use  of  his  subjects,  is  a  curious  example 
of  Oriental  official  literature  It  intimated  that  the 
"  present  Founder  of  the  City  of  Mandalay  or  Rutapon, 
Builder  of  the  Eoyal  Palace,  Ruler  of  Sea  and  Land, 
Lord  of  the  Celestial  Elephant  and  Master  of  many 
White  Elephants,  Owner  of  the  Sekyah  or  Indra's 
Weapon,  Lord  of  the  Power  of  Life  and  Death  and 
Great  Chief  of  Righteousness,  being  exceedingly  anx- 
ious for  the  welfare  of  his  people,  in  the  year  1213  will 
introduce  the  telegraph — a  science — the  elements  of 
which  may  be  compared  to  thundar  and  lightning  for 
rapidity  and  brilliancy,  and  such  as  his  royal  ancestors, 
in  successive  generations,  had  never  attempted  to 
subdue." 


AN   UNIVERSAL    INSTITUTION.  165 


The  Japanese  take  kindly  to  occidental  innovations, 
the  leading  men  in  the  empire  interesting  themselves 
in  a  most  commendable  manner  to  advance  its  civiliza- 
tion. Our  own  country  has  taken  a  very  creditable 
share  in  the  introduction  of  improvements  among  that 
singular  nation  of  the  far  East,  which,  resembling  its 
neighbors  the  Chinese  in  many  respects,  is  directly  the 
opposite  in  gladly  welcoming  every  innovation  which 
is,  or  promises  to  be,  an  improvement.  The  American 
government  was  the  first  to  initiate  the  "  Japs  "  in  the 
operations  of  the  field  telegraph,  by  presenting  one  to 
the  mikado,  in  the  imperial  presence.  By  the  mikado's 
desire  the  apparatus  was  erected  in  the  grounds  of  the 
palace,  one  terminus  being  his  majesty's  private  study, 
and  the  other  the  pleasure  pavilion  which  stands  in  the 
center  of  the  Maple  Gardens,  where  were  assembled 
three  princes  of  the  blood,  the  prime  minister,  and  a 
host  of  members  of  the  privy  council,  to  receive  and 
answer  the  imperial  messages.  The  working  of  the 
wires  was  entrusted  to  two  Japanese,  and  when  all  was 
ready  a  message  arrived  at  the  pavilion  announcing 
the  presence  of  the  mikado  at  the  terminus  in  the 
study.  To  this  announcement  a  most  respectful  mes- 
sage was  returned,  thanking  his  majesty  for  his  gra- 
cious presence. 

Shortly  afterward  the  message  came  :  "  The  emperor 
is  highly  pleased  with  the  wonderful  Western  inven- 
tion," and  then  iinmediateiy  followed  :  "  Who  are  in  the 
pavilion,  and  what  are  you  doing  1"  To  this  an  answer 


166  THE    TELEGRAPH 

was  returned,  giving  the  names  of  those  present,  and 
saying  that  they  were  waiting  with  profound  venera- 
tion his  majesty's  gracious  orders.  To  their  intense 
embarrassment  the  next  thing  heard  was :  "  Telegraph 
to  us  something  amusing."  As  may  be  imagined,  this 
message  caused  the  greatest  consternation  among  the 
courtiers.  How  were  they  in  a  moment  to  conjure  up 
anything  that  should  be  amusing,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  respectful  ?  At  length  one  privy  councillor  sug- 
gested :  "  This  day  will  be  memorable  in  the  annals  of 
the  empire  as  that  on  which  his  majesty  for  the  first 
time  witnessed  the  working  of  a  telegraph."  But  this 
was  instantly  rejected  as  being  not  in  the  least  amus- 
ing. At  last  a  youthful  courtier  proposed :  "  We  all 
mean  to  get  merry  on  the  wine  which  we  expect  your 
majesty  to  give  us."  This  was  at  once  received  with 
delight,  and  transmitted  to  the  palace  ;  and  to  it  a  reply 
was  immediately  returned  that  they  should  not  expect 
in  vain,  and  the  proceedings  terminated  with  a  message 
from  the  emperor  expressing  himself  satisfied  with  the 
experiments,  and  thanking  the  officers  who  had  worked 
the  telegraph.  At  the  emperor's  desire  the  apparatus 
was  left  standing  In  the  grounds,  in  order  that  he 
might  learn  to  work  it  himself. 


Nothing  has  been  more  remarkable  in  the  history  of 
the  last  few  years  than  the  progress  of  discovery  in 
the  continent  of  Africa,  which  promises  to  shortly  open 
it  up  fully  to  the  operations  of  trade,  aided  by  the 


AN    UNIVERSAL    INSTITUTION.  167 

steamboat,  the  locomotive,  and  the  electric  telegraph. 
A  correspondent  of  the  London  Times,  writing  recently 
from  Berba,  in  tropical  Africa,  says  : 

"  It  was  singular  to  meet  with  the  telegraph  in  the 
heart  of  the  desert  between  Aryab  and  Berba  ;  not  the 
telegraph  put  up  and  in  working  order,  as  we  see  it 
in  Europe,  but  all  the  appurtenances  of  that  instru- 
ment of  civilization  carried  on  the  backs  of  hundreds 
of  camels,  which,  laden  with  coils  of  wire  and  hollow 
iron  posts,  trod  their  toilsome  path  through  the  burn- 
ing sand.  Every  now  and  then  we  met  one  of  these 
poor  beasts  which,  overweighted  and  broken  down  by 
the  weight  of  his  load,  had  fallen  on  the  ground  and 
been  abandoned  a  victim  to  the  vultures.  All  this 
telegraphic  gear  was  marked  "  Siemens  Brothers, 
London,"  and  was  en  route  to  Khartoum,  from  which 
town  it  will  be  forwarded  on  to  span  the  desert  between 
Kordofan  and  Darfour.  A  good  many  lives  will  prob- 
ably be  sacrificed  before  the  line  can  be  considered 
open,  as  the  Arabs,  who  eagerly  steal  every  piece  of 
iron  they  can  meet  with  for  their  spear  points,  have  to 
be  very  severely  punished  before  they  leave  off  cutting 
down  the  poles.  However,  this  difficulty  once  got 
over,  the  telegraph  will  be  as  easily  worked  as  the  one 
between  Khartoum  and  Cairo,  which,  when  it  was  first 
laid  down,  was  continually  being  interrupted." 

Thus  the  march  of  improvement  steadily  progresses, 
and  the  dark  places  of  the  earth  are  being  provided 
with  the  agencies  which  enlarge  and  refine  life. 


168  THE   WEATHEB   REPORTS. 


THE  WEATHER  EEPOETS. 

The  recent  death  of  Brigadier-General  Albert  J. 
Meyer,  chief  signal  officer  of  the  army,  gives  painful 
interest  to  a  subject  with  which  his  name  was  long 
identified,  one,  moreover,  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  the  interests  especially  of  our  commercial  marine 
and  of  agriculture. 

STORM    SIGNAL    SYSTEM. 

We  are  indebted  to  the  pen  of  the  deceased  gentle- 
man for  the  best  account  of  this  system,  written  with 
singular  clearness,  exactness  and  completeness.  The 
following  passage  occurs  in  one  of  General  Meyer's 
annual  reports,  addressed  to  the  secretary  of  war.  He 
says: 

"  Synchronous  observations  are  taken  and  forwarded 
three  times  daily,  at  about  8  A.M.,  6  P.M.  and  12  mid- 
night, by  careful  observers,  under  military  control, 
and  supplied  with  the  best  instruments,  namely,  barom- 
eter, thermometer,  hygrometer,  anemometer  and  rain 
gauge.  The  observations  are  forwarded  by  telegraph, 
in  the  shape  of  a  numeral  cipher,  the  intelligence  con- 
veyed in  sixty  words  being  sent  in  a  twenty-word 
report. 

"  The  telegraphic  transmission  of  the  regular  re- 
ports has  presented  a  problem  difficult  of  solution. 
The  list  of  stations  of  observation  and  report  exhibits 
a  large  number  of  stations,  so  located  that  if  reports 


THE    WEATHEK    REPuRTS.  169 

are  to  be  both  received  from  and  sent  to  them  two  or 
three  times  a  day  without  an  organization  of  working 
especially  designed  for  the  purpose,  the  delays  would 
be  great,  and  the  repetitions,  each  of  which  involves  a 
chance  of  error,  numerous. 

"  The  extensive  lines  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company  and  the  co-operating  companies,  Lhe 
International  Ocean  Cable  Company  and  the  North- 
western Telegraph  Company,  have  been  divided  into 
circuits.  These  circuits  reach  in  their  course  every 
station  of  observation  and  report.  Each  circuit  thus 
provides  for  a  certain  group  of  stations.  This  being 
arranged,  the  working  forms  of  circuits  set  forth  mi- 
nutely the  telegraphic  labor  needed  for  the  movement 
of  the  messages  of  each  group ;  for  the  exchange  of 
message  reports  between  different  groups — between 
different  places  in  different  groups ;  and,  finally,  for 
the  assembling  of  all  the  dispatches  in  Washington." 

WHAT    THE   SIGNAL    SERVICE    DOES    FOR   COMMERCE   AND 
AGRICULTURE. 

What  specific  purposes^  it  may  be  asked,  are  an- 
swered by  the  department  over  which  General  Meyer 
so  ably  presided  ?  "  The  Signal  Service,  United  States 
Army,  Division  of  Telegrams  and  Reports  for  the 
Benefit  of  Commerce  and  Agriculture,"  is  expected  to 
perform  the  following  duties,  detailed  by  the  same 
accurate  pen  as  the  foregoing  quotation :  "  To  give 
protection  to  commerce  by  warnings  on  all  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  of  the  United  States,  and  on 


170  THE   WEATHER   REPORTS. 

those  of  the  lakes  ;  to  watch  the  river  changes  along 
their  courses  in  the  great  river  valleys  ;  to  note  at 
seasons  the  temperatures  affecting  canal  commerce; 
to  carry  telegraphic  lines,  by  which  meteorological 
reports  may  be  had,  over  regions  considered  imprac- 
ticable for  such  constructions  ;  to  maintain  a  system 
of  connected  stations  on  the  seacoast ;  to  take  charge 
of  the  recognized  system  of  voluntary  meteorological 
observations  on  this  continent,  in  addition  to  the  reg- 
ular system  of  the  service  ;  to  secure  the  co-operation 
of  foreign  observers  in  foreign  countries ;  to  endeavor 
to  aid  directly  all  the  farming  population  in  the  har- 
vesting of  their  crops;  and,  finally,  to  put  it  in  the 
power  of  every  citizen  to  know  each  day,  with  reason- 
able accuracy,  the  approaching  weather  changes." 

We  need  not  add  that  this  gigantic  intention  has 
been  and  is  carried  out  with  a  degree  of  efficiency 
which  is  surprising,  and  which  is  continually  increas- 
ing- 

In  order  to  insure  its  accomplishment,  there  is  a 
thorough  course  of  instruction  given  to  those  who 
are  to  be  observers,  both  in  military  signaling  and 
telegraphy,  meteorology  and  the  Signal  Service  duties 
at  stations  of  observation  and  report.  This  is  done  at 
the  school  of  instruction  and  practice  at  Fort  Whipple, 
Virginia.  Upon  their  being  found  efficient,  the  ob- 
servers are  placed  at  stations  where,  in  such  of  these 
as  forward  telegraphic  reports,  "  they  are  required  to 
take,  put  in  cipher,  and  furnish,  to  be  telegraphed 
tri-daily  on  each  day,  at  different  fixed  times,  the 


THE   WEATHER   KEPORTS.  171 

results  of  observations  made  at  those  times,  and  em- 
bracing in  each  case  the  readings  of  the  barometer, 
the  thermometer,  the  wind  velocity  and  direction,  the 
rain-gauge,  the  relative  humidity,  the  character,  quan- 
tity and  movement  of  upper  and  lower  clouds,  and  the 
condition  of  the  weather."  In  addition  to  the  re- 
ports supplied  to  the  daily  papers,  what  are  called 
Farmers'  Bulletins  are  furnished  daily  to  such  post 
offices  as  can  be  reached  from  convenient  centers. 

THE   NEW   YORK    STATION. 

The  New  York  station  of  the  Signal  Service  is  situ- 
ited  on  the  top  story  of  the  building  occupied  by  the 
Squitable  Life  Assurance  Company.  It  commands  a 
;uperb  view  of  the  city  and  bay,  and  affords  a  place 
"or  the  display  of  the  cautionary  signals  where  they 
are  visible  from  all  parts  of  the  harbor.  The  lantern, 
displaying  a  red  light,  is  one  hundred  and  ninety-five 
feet  above  sea-level ;  while  the  flag — red,  with  a  black 
centre — floats  from  a  staff  at  an  elevation  of  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  feet. 

Here  is  the  wind  vane,  which  needs  no  description, 
and  also  the  anemometer,  used  to  determine  the  velo- 
city of  the  wind.  By  electric  connections  with  inge- 
nious but  not  complex  machinery,  this  is  a  self -regis- 
tering instrument.  The  train  of  wheelwork  makes  and 
breaks  an  electric  circuit,  which  registers  itself  on 
the  paper  revolving  by  clockwork  on  the  recording 
cylinder. 

There  is  in  the  New  York  office  a  self-registering 


172  THE   WEATHEB   BEPOBTS. 

barometer.  It  is  a  rare  and  splendid  instrument. 
One  of  the  cylinders,  which  are  revolved  by  clockwork, 
gives  the  register  of  the  barometric  changes  for  a  day, 
and  the  other  for  a  period  of  fifteen  days.  As  in  the 
anemometer,  the  connections  between  the  instrument 
itself  and  the  recording  cylinders  are  made  by  elec- 
tricity. 

Both  to  save  time  and  expense,  as  well  as  to  insure 
accuracy,  the  telegraphic  reports  of  the  service  are 
made  in  cipher.  These  ciphers  are  easily  and  quickly 
read  by  means  of  a  book  arranged  for  the  purpose. 
Here,  for  example,  is  the  cipher  report  of  the  observa- 
tion taken  at  New  York  on  a  certain  day:  "York,  Mon- 
day, Dead,  Fire,  Grind,  Himself,  111,  Ovation,  View  ;" 
which,  translated,  reads: 

York  :  New  York  (Station). 
Monday  :  30.07  (Barometer  corrected). 

Dead  :  29.90  (corrected  barometer  for  temperature  and  instru- 
mental error). 
Fire  :  70°  (thermometer). 
Grind  :  75  per  cent,  (humidity). 
Himself  :  west,  fair  (wind  and  weather). 
HI :  6  miles  (velocity  of  wind). 
Ovation:  £  cirrus  clouds,  calm  (upper  clouds). 
View:  67°  (minimum  temperature  during  night). 

The  Signal  Service  is  an  exacting  one.  From  the 
chief  officer  down  to  the  privates,  to  the  men  in  com- 
fortable quarters  in  the  cities  and  to  the  men  who 
winter  on  Mount  Washington  or  Pike's  Peak,  the  thanks 
of  the  whole  community  are  due  for  their  tireless 
service. 


OJHE    WEATHEK   BEPORTS.  173 

EARLY    OPPOSITION. 

The  system  we  have  described,  and  which  has  proved 
so  successful  that  the  proportion  of  failures  is  now 
less  than  ten  per  cent.,  was  not  adopted  without  oppo- 
sition. No  less  a  man  than  Mr.  A.  Watson,  of  Wash- 
ington, described  as  the  originator  of  the  idea  of 
storm  signals,  wrote  to  a  New  York  journal  that  the 
plan  of  telegrams  and  reports,  then  just  adopted,  had 
been  abandoned  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
Speaking  of  the 'storm  signal  system,  he  wrote: 

"  In  furtherance  of  this  plan  of  telegrams  and  re- 
ports the  department  has  enlisted  fifty  sergeants  as 
meteorologists,  at  $900  per  annum,  making  $45,000, 
which,  added  to  the  $15,000  appropriated  by  Congress, 
makes  $60,000  at  least,  to  be  expended  this  year, 
which  same  reports  were  obtained  through  the  tele 
graph  company  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  no 
cost  whatever.  But  fifty  sergeants  are  as  yet  employed 
as  meteorologists,  and  stationed  at  different  parts  of 
the  country  to  telegraph  the  weather,  which  number 
may,  perhaps,  be  increased  to  hundreds  if  not  thou 
sands,  costing  a  million  of  dollars  or  more  per  annum. 
The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  has  three 
thousand  five  hundred  operators  throughout  the 
country,  which,  at  $900  per  annum,  would  amount  to 
$3,150,000.  And  every  one  of  these,  by  my  plan  or 
by  any  other,  will  have  to  be  employed  to  telegraph 
storms  and  floods,  or  else  employ  sergeants  in  equal 
number.  But  why  employ  a  sergeant  to  inform  a 
telegraph  operator  of  the  state  of  the  weather,  or  that 
a  storm  is  passing  in  a  certain  direction,  when  that 


174  THE   WEATHER    REPORTS. 

agent  can  know  it  as  well  as  the  other,  and  has  control 
of  the  wires  to  telegraph  on  all  sides  and  to  any  dis- 
tance to  assure  himself  of  the  certain  extent,  direction 
and  intensity  of  the  storm  or  flood  ?  These  gentlemen 
are  as  intelligent  as  any  that  can  be  found,  and  for  a 
trifle  additional  compensation  would  do  the  work.  It 
is  plain  that  the  station  agents  located  at  the  principal 
towns  are  all  the  meteorologists  that  are  needed,  and 
are  the  only  persons  that  can  do  the  work  complete 
and  at  a  trifling  cost. 

"  What  is  needed  is  a  sound  signal,  by  cannon,  to 
give  instant  and  general  warning,  for  many  miles  in 
all  directions,  of  coming  storms  and  floods.  I  predict 
that  these  weather  reports  will  prove  a  total  failure 
and  a  costly  one  at  that.  As  the  great  War  Depart- 
ment and  the  portentous  Signal  Office  have  been  seven 
months  in  devising  and  putting  into  operation  these 
weather  reports,  it  reminds  me  of  the  old  but  apt  say- 
ing, '  The  mountain  was  in  labor  and  brought  forth  a 
mouse,'  and  in  this  instance  the  mouse  is  very  little 
and  old  at  that." 

The  well-informed  reader  remembers  that  equally 
severe  remarks  were  made  at  the  expense  of  the  loco- 
motive upon  its  first  introduction,  not  to  speak  of 
other  gigantic  improvements  which  were  made  at  the 
cost  of  influential  opposition,  'but,  like  our  storm 
signal  system,  soon  justified  their  existence  by  their 
beneficent  results. 

ORIGIN   OF   WEATHER   REPORTS   IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Mr.  Watson's  letter  naturally  leads  to  an  inquiry  as 
to  what  had  been  done  in  the  way  of  furnishing 


THE    WEATHER    REPORTS.  175 

weather  reports  to  the  people  of  this  country  pre- 
viously to  the  formation  of  an  army  department  pro- 
vided for  that  purpose.  This  subject  was  treated 
with  success  by  Professor  Cleveland  Abbe,  in  the 
August  number  (1871)  of  The  American  Journal  of 
Science,  according  to  which  the  first  published  sugges- 
tion of  the  feasibility  of  weather  reports  appears  to  be 
that  of  Professor  William  C.  Redfield,  in  The  American 
Journal  of  Science  for  September,  1846,  where  he 
states  that  "  in  the  Atlantic  ports  the  approach  of  a 
gale  may  be  made  known  by  means  of  the  Atlantic 
telegraph,  which  probably  will  soon  extend  from 
Maine  to  the  Mississippi."  The  next  mention  of  the 
subject  is  found  in  the  Smithsonian  report  for  1847, 
in  an  article  by  Professor  Elias  Loomis,  who  wrote : 
"  When  the  magnetic  telegraph  is  extended  from  New 
York  to  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis,  it  may  be  made 
subservient  to  the  protection  of  our  commerce,  even 
in  the  present  imperfect  state  of  our  knowledge  of 
storms."  But  however  frequently  the  idea  may  have 
been  suggested  of  utilizing  our  knowledge  by  the 
employment  of  the  electric  telegraph,  according  to 
Professor  Abbe,  it  is  to  the  late  Professor  Henry,  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution,  that  the  credit  is  due 
of  having  first  actually  realized  this  suggestion,  as 
acknowledged  by  the  Vienna  Academy  of  Sciences. 

The  practical  utilization  of  the  results  of  scientific 
study  is  well  known  to  have  been  greatly  furthered  by 
the  labors  of  this  institution,  and  from  the  very  begin- 
ning Professor  Henry  successfully  advocated  the 


176  THE   WEATHER    REPORTS. 

feasibility  of  telegraphic  storm  warnings.  It  will  be 
interesting  to  trace  the  gradual  realization  of  the 
earlier  suggestions  of  Redfield  and  Loomis  in  the 
following  extracts  from  the  annual  Smithsonian  reports 
of  the  years  indicated : 

1847.  "  The  extended  lines  of  telegraph  will  furnish 
a  ready  means  of  warning  the  more  northern  and  east- 
ern observers  to  be  on  the  watch  for  the  first  appear 
ance  of  an  advancing  storm. 

1848.  "As  a  part  of  the  system  of  meteorology,  it 
is  proposed  to  employ,  as  far  as  our  funds  will  permit, 
the  magnetic  telegraph  in  the  investigation  of  atmos- 
pherical   phenomena.      *     *     *     The   advantage    to 
agriculture  and  commerce,  to  be  derived  from  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  approach  of  a   storm  by  means  of  the 
telegraph,  has  been  frequently  referred  to  of  late  in  the 
public  journals — and  this  we  think  is  a  subject  deserv- 
ing the  attention  of  the  government. 

1849.  "  Successful  applications  have  been  made  to 
the  presidents  of  a  number  of  telegraph  lines  to  allow 
us,  at  a  certain  period  of  the  day,  the  use  of  the  wires 
for   the   transmission  of   meteorological  intelligence. 
*     *     *     As  soon  as  they  (certain  instruments,  etc.) 
are  completed,  the  transmission  of  observations  will 
commence."     (It  was  contemplated  to  constitute  the 
telegraph  operators  the  observers.) 

1850.  "  This  map  (an  outline  wall  map)  is  intended 
to  be  used  for  presenting  the  successive  phases  of  the 
sky  over  the  whole  country  at  different  points  of  time, 
as  far  as  reported." 


THE   WEATHEB   REPORTS.  177 

1851.  "  Since  the  date  of  the  last  report  the  system, 
particularly  intended  to  Investigate  the  nature  of 
American  storms  immediately  under  the  care  of  the 
Institution,  has  been  continued  and  improved."  The 
system  of  weather  reports  thus  inaugurated  continued 
in  regular  operation  until  1861,  when  the  disturbed 
condition  of  the  country  rendered  impossible  its  fur- 
ther continuance.  Meanwhile,  however,  the  study  of 
these  daily  morning  reports  had  led  to  such  a  knowl 
edge  of  the  progress  of  our  storms,  that  in  the  report 
for  1857  Professor  Henry  writes  : 

1857.  "  We  are  indebted  to  the  National  Telegraph 
line  for  a  series  of  observations  from  New  Orleans  to 
New  York,  and  as  far  westward  as  Cincinnati,  which 
have  been  published  in  The  Evening  Star  of  this  city. 
We  hope  in  the  course  of  another  year  to  make  such 
an  arrangement  with  the  telegraph  lines  as  to  be  able 
to  give  warnings  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  approach 
of  storms,  since  the  investigations  which  have  been 
made  at  the  institution  fully  indicate  the  fact  that,  as 
a  general  rule,  the  storms  of  our  latitude  pursue  a 
definite  course." 

Before  peace  had  been  proclaimed,  after  the  civil 
war,  Professor  Henry  sought  to  revive  the  systematic 
daily  weather  reports,  and  in  August,  1864,  at  the 
meeting  of  the  North  American  Telegraph  Association, 
a  paper  was  presented  by  Professor  Baird,  on  behalf 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  requesting  the  privi- 
lege of  the  use  of  the  telegraph  lines,  and  more 
especially  in  order  to  enable  Professor  Henry  "to 


178  THE   WEATHER   EEPOETS. 

resume  and  extend  the  Weather  Bulletin,  and  to  give 
warning  of  important  atmospheric  changes  on  our  sea- 
board." In  response  to  this  communication  it  was 
resolved  "That  this  association  recommend  *  * 
to  pass  free  of  charge  *  *  *  brief  meteorological 
reports  *  *  *  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  insti- 
tution." Upon  the  communication  of  this  generous 
response,  preparations  were  at  once  made  for  the 
undertaking,  and  its  inauguration  was  fixed  for  the 
year  1865.  In  January  of  that  year,  however,  occurred 
the  disastrous  fire  which  seriously  embarrassed  the 
labors  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  for  several  years. 
It  became  necessary,  therefore,  to  indefinitely  postpone 
the  work,  which  indeed  had  through  its  whole  history 
been  carried  on  with  most  limited  financial  means,  and 
was  quite  dependent  upon  the  liberal  co-operation  of 
the  different  telegraph  companies. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  without  material  aid  from 
the  government,  but  through  the  enlightened  policy 
of  the  telegraph  companies,  and  with  the  assistance  of 
the  munificent  bequest  of  James  Smithson,  "  for  the 
increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge,"  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  organized  a  comprehensive  system  of 
weather  reports,  which,  although  since,  as  we  have 
shown,  superseded  by  one  more  complete  and  efficient, 
ought  still  to  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  and  be 
accorded  a  prop  31-  acknowledgment. 


THE    RAILWAY    TELEGBAPHIO    SYSTEM.  179 


THE  KAELWAY  TELEGPA^HIC  SYSTEM. 

One  of  the  great  daily  papers  of  New  York  city 
published,  some  time  ago,  an  article  assuming  that 
moving  trains  by  telegraph  was  an  American  institu- 
tion, and  gave  a  detailed  account  of  its  first  application 
in  support  of  this  assumption. 

AN   UNFOUNDED    ASSUMPTION. 

The  article  stated  that  "  the  first  practical  applica- 
tion of  telegraphic  signals  in  moving  trains  was  made 
on  the  Erie  line  in  1850."  It  added  that  "previous  to 
that  time  locomotive  engineers  and  conductors  were 
distrustful,  and  there  are  several  instances  on  record 
of  their  positive  refusal  to  obey  telegraphic  orders, 
especially  when  their  trains  were  directed  to  proceed 
beyond  stations,  to  meet  and  pass  trains  going  in 
opposite  directions,  except  in  cases  where  such  orders 
were  plainly  expressed  in  printed  orders  upon  their 
regular  time  tables.  In  1850,  however,  when  the  Erie 
road  had  but  a  single  track  between  Piermont  and 
Elmira,  it  was  plainly  demonstrated  to  the  superin- 
tendent (the  late  Charles  Minot)  that  the  telegraph 
would  be  a  very  important  assistance  to  the  road,  and 
it  became  plainly  evident  that  the  telegraphic  service 
must  eventually  be  adopted  upon  all  main  trunk  lines. 

"  When  the  first  telegraphic  message  was  sent  over 
the  Erie  wires  a  train  filled  with  western  bound  pas- 
sengers was  lying  at  Turner's  Station,  awaiting  the 


180  THE   RAILWAY    TELEGKAPHIO    SYSTEM. 

arrival  of  an  eastern  bound  train,  which,  by  the  time 
table,  should  meet  and  pass  it  at  that  point ;  but,  owing 
to  an  accident  two  hundred  miles  west,  it  could  not 
possibly  arrive  until  five  or  six  hours  later.  Mr.  Minot 
was  a  passenger  upon  the  train  lying  at  Turner's.  He 
immediately  decided  to  test  the  accuracy  of  the  tele- 
graph, and  make  a  beginning  of  the  plan  of  ordering 
trains  to  proceed  to  points  further  in  advance,  and  not 
further  delay  the  stationary  train,  when  the  track  was 
known  to  be  clear  as  far  as  Port  Jervis,  a  distance  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  further  west  Orders 
were  accordingly  sent  over  the  wire  to  the  station 
agent  at  Port  Jervis  to  hold  all  easterly  bound  trains 
until  the  arrival  of  the  western  train.  This  order  was 
given  in  order  to  make  all  safe,  and  prevent  a  collision 
in  case  the  former  should  arrive  at  Port  Jervis  before 
the  latter.  An  answer  was  immediately  given  by  the 
station  agent,  announcing  that  he  fully  understood  the 
order,  and  would  do  as  directed.  All  appeared  safe, 
and  the  engineer  was  ordered  to  start  west ;  but,  to 
the  astonishment  of  Mr.  Miiiot,  he  positively  refused 
to  move  the  train  from  Turner's  upon  any  such 
arrangement.  Mr.  Minot  immediately  mounted  the 
locomotive,  pulled  out  the  throttle  valve,  and  ran  the 
train  himself,  assisted  by  the  fireman,  and  reached 
Port  Jervis  according  to  programme. 

"  The  ice  was  broken,  and  since  that  time  the  tele- 
graph has  been  acknowledged  as  a  positive  necessity 
on  all  long  railroad  lines  in  this  country.  As  many  as 
twenty  trains  have  since  moved  in  opposite  directions 


THE  RAILWAY  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM.        5,81 

at  one  time  upon  a  single  division  of  the  Erie  road 
with  perfect  safety.  The  form  of  giving  the  necessary 
directions,  however,  has  been  somewhat  changed  ;  and 
now  the  conductors  and  engineers  of  each  train  who 
receive  telegraphic  directions  are  telegraphed  the 
name  of  the  particular  point  at  which  they  are  to 
meet,  and  answers  are  required  from  them,  to  ascer- 
tain whether  they  understand  orders,  before  any 
movement  is  made." 

TRAIN   DISPATCHING   AN   ENGLISH   INVENTION. 

However  gratifying  this  account  may  be  to  our 
national  pride,  and  useful  as  embodying  in  its  last 
sentences  information  of  current  value,  so  far  as  it 
pretends  to  give  an  account  of  the  introduction  of 
train  dispatching,  it  is  not  to  be  trusted.  Charles  H. 
Haskins,  now  general  superintendent  of  the  North- 
western Telegraph  Company  at  Milwaukee,  and  prom- 
inently connected  with  telephone  matters  in  that 
section,  when  he  was  conductor  upon  the  Michigan 
Southern  Railroad,  in  the  winter  of  1849-50,  tele- 
graphed to  hold  a  boat  at  Monroe  for  his  train,  which 
had  been  detained  by  an  accident.  This  is  probably 
the  first  instance  of  a  train  order  on  our  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Engli sh  were  the 
first  to  adopt  telegraphic  signaling  on  railways.  An 
English  pamphlet  entitled  "Telegraphic  Railways  ;  or, 
the  Single  Way  Recommended  by  Safety,  Economy 
and  Efficiency,  under  the  Safeguard  and  Control  of 
the  Electric  Telegraph,  &c.  By  Wm.  Fothergill 


182  THE  RAILWAY   TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM. 

Cooke,  Esq." ;  published  in  London  in  1842,  has  a 
large  chart,  illustrating  fully  the  manner  in  which 
trains  were  to  be  moved  on  a  single  track  by  means  of 
telegraphic  signals  or  orders,  given  by  the  station 
masters  from  station  to  station.  The  instruments 
then  in  use  on  the  Blackwall  Railway  are  illustrated 
by  diagrams,  and  the  use  of  these  instruments  fully 
explained. 

GRAND    CENTRAL    DEPOT    SIGNAL    SYSTEM. 

At  the  Grand  Central  Depot,  Forty-second  Street, 
New  York  City,  are  the  termini  of  three  great  rail- 
roads, and  here  the  telegraphic  signal  system  is  carried 
to  such  a  height  of  perfection  as  to  merit  particular 
description.  With  the  exception  of  the  interval 
between  1:10  and  3:40  in  the  morning,  and  of  fifty 
minutes  at  noon,  no  period  of  fifteen  minutes  elapses 
in  which  some  train  does  not  depart  or  arrive  via  the 
Harlem,  the  Hudson  River,  or  the  New  York,  New 
Haven  and  Hartford  road.  One  hundred  and  eighteen 
regular,  and  from  ten  to  fifteen  extra  trains  daily  pass 
in  one  direction  or  the  other  over  the  tracks  on  the 
underground  road  between  Fifty-Third  Street  and 
Harlem  Bridge,  a  distance  of  nearly  four  and  a  half 
miles.  Barely  two  minutes  sometimes  intervene  be- 
tween the  departure  of  one  train  and  the  incoming  of 
another,  and  three  trains  often  start  at  intervals  of 
five  minutes  apart. 

It  is  obvious  that,  in  order  to  prevent  confusion  and 
accident,  the  movements  of  each  and  every  one  of  these 


THE   RAILWAY   TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM.  183 

trains,  while  traveling  between  the  points  named,  must 
be  governed  with  absolute  certainty.  Add  to  this  that 
crowd  after  crowd  of  passengers  must  be  admitted 
from  the  reception  room  to  the  outgoing  cars  at 
exactly  the  proper  time,  and  the  checking  of  their 
baggage  must  be  stopped  in  time  to  insure  its  dispatch 
by  the  proper  trains ;  and  the  reader  will  have  formed 
some  faint  idea  of  the  perfect  system  which  must  exist 
for  the  management  of  the  machinery  of  the  great 
depot  and  its  approaches. 

Located  far  up  on  the  north  wall  of  the  depot,  the 
view  from  its  broad  window  extending  over  the  intri- 
cate network  of  rails  into  which  the  various  tracks 
diverge,  is  a  small  cabin.  On  the  wall  hang  signal 
indicators  and  bells,  time-tables,  and  a  huge  clock. 
On  the  table  before  the  single  occupant  are  a  telegraph 
instrument,  a  record  book,  and  three  rows  of  ivory 
buttons,  twenty  in  all.  This  is  the  dispatcher's  office, 
and  here,  by  pressing  the  buttons  or  manipulating  the 
telegraph  key,  he  controls  the  movement  of  every 
train  going  or  coming,  the  buttons,  though  simple 
electric  bells,  governing  everything  near  and  about 
the  depot,  the  key  transmitting  instructions  to  far-off 
points.  By  way  of  illustration,  we  suppose  that  one 
train  is  to  start  at  4:30,  and  that  another  will  arrive  at 
4:31  o'clock.  It  is  now  just  4:10,  the  passengers  are 
congregated  in  the  waiting-room,  the  cars  are  in  place, 
and  the  engine,  with  steam  up,  is  standing  outside  not 
yet  attached.  The  dispatcher  touches  a  button,  the 
sound  of  a  bell  is  heard,  the  heavy  doors  of  the  wait- 


184        THE  KAILWAY  TELEGBAPHIC  SYSTEM. 

ing  room  fly  open,  and  the  passengers  crowd  upon  the 
cars.  Fifteen  minutes  elapse;  the  operator  presses 
another  button,  a  gong  strikes  in  the  baggage  room, 
and  the  checking  is  stopped.  Belated  individuals  who 
wish  to  depart  by  that  train  must  go  minus  their  bag- 
gage. Now  the  operator  watches  the  clock  closely ; 
three  minutes  pass,  and  then  a  sharp  peal  rings  out 
from  a  bell  close  beside  him.  The  minute  hand  points 
to  4:28,  and  the  incoming  train  has  reached  Sixty-fourth 
Street  and  is  signaling  its  own  approach.  The  sound 
continues  for  half  a  minute,  then  stops  ;  the  train  is 
at  Fifty-fifth  Street,  and  the  finger  of  the  dispatcher 
at  once  presses  another  button.  If  we  were  on  the 
arriving  locomotive  we  would  see  a  green  disk  before 
us,  or  at  night  the  flash  of  a  green  light,  meaning  that 
everything  is  ready  for  the  flying  switch  just  outside 
the  depot,  by  which  the  engine  is  to  clear  itself  from 
the  train,  the  cars  entering  the  depot  by  their  own 
momentum.  Now  it  is  4:29 ;  down  goes  another  but- 
ton; a  bell  on  a  post  beside  the  locomotive  waiting 
outside  rings  for  the  engineer  to  back  in  and  couple 
on.  Hardly  ten  seconds  elapse  before  a  sharp  "  ting  " 
calls  the  operator's  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
pointer  arm  of  the  indicator  on  the  wall  has  swung 
over  from  "clear"  to  "block."  The  arriving  train  is  on 
the  Fifty-third  Street  crossing.  The  clock  says  4:30 : 
again  a  button  is  pressed ;  the  doors  of  the  waiting- 
room  are  slammed  shut,  there  is  a  few  seconds'  delay 
for  the  tardy  ones  on  the  platforms  to  board  the  cars, 
and  then  the  train  moves  slowly  out  of  the  depot. 


THE   RAILWAY   TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM.  185 

The  indicator  pointer  still  shows  "  block,"  and  if  the 
outgoing  train  continues  its  course  a  disastrous  meet- 
ing on  the  crossing  may  result.  The  dispatcher 
remains  passive,  however,  for  he  knows  that  the  signal 
between  that  train  and  the  crossing  is  normally  at 
"danger,"  and  that  the  engineer  will  certainly  come  to 
a  stop  and  wait  until  the  red  disk  is  turned.  The 
delay  is  but  for  a  second,  for  the  indicator  bell  almost 
instantly  sounds  again,  the  arm  swings  over  to  "  clear," 
and  the  proper  button  is  immediately  touched.  A  dis- 
tant cloud  of  steam  can  be  seen  for  a  moment,  and  the 
outgoing  train  is  off  again.  Pressing  another  button 
the  operator  restores  the  danger  signal.  The  arriving 
train  now  rushes  in,  its  passengers  disembark,  and  at 
the  sound  of  the  bell  from  the  dispatcher,  a  locomotive 
kept  for  the  purpose  couples  on  and  drags  the  empty 
cars  out  of  the  depot. 

We  have  accounted  for  twenty-one  minutes,  during 
which  one  train  has  left  and  one  arrived ;  the  reader 
may  imagine  the  celerity  and  certainty  of  the  work 
when  we  add  that,  within  fifteen  minutes  spent  in  the 
dispatcher's  cabin,  three  trains  on  three  different  roads 
were  started  and  three  received,  all  at  different  times 
arid  without  the  slightest  confusion. 

MOVING   TRAINS   BY   TELEGRAPHIC   ORDERS. 

As  the  above  account  does  not,  of  course,  cover  all 
the  information  properly  coming  under  the  head  of 
this  chapter,  a  statement  of  the  general  system,  given 
in  detail,  cannot  fail  to  be  exceedingly  interesting.  The 


186  THE   RAILWAY   TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM. 

following  are  the  instructions  issued  to  the  employes 
of  a  prominent  railroad: 

"  Superintendents  and  train  dispatchers  are  the  only 
persons  who  are  authorized  to  move  trains  by  special 
orders.  Before  an  order  is  given  by  telegraph  for  two 
or  more  trains  to  meet  at  a  given  station,  the  red 
signal  to  stop  the  trains  must  first  be  displayed  at 
such  meeting  point ;  and  until  this  is  done  no  order 
must  be  sent  to  either  train.  When  a  meeting  or 
passing  point  is  to  be  made  by  two  or  more  trains, 
the  order  must  be  definite  and  conclusive,  and  sent 
first  to  the  conductor  having  the  right  to  the  road. 
If  it  is  desired  to  give  a  train  the  right  to  run  against 
a  passenger  train,  the  order  is  first  sent  to  the  con- 
ductor of  the  latter,  and  no  order  must  be  given  the 
opposing  train  until  the  receipt  of  a  satisfactory  reply 
from  the  conductor  of  the  passenger  train.  And  in 
the  same  way,  before  giving  a  passenger  train  the 
right  to  the  road,  over  a  train  possessing  this  right, 
the  order  should  first  be  sent  to  the  train  holding  the 
right  to  the  road,  and  when  a  satisfactory  reply  has 
been  received  from  the  conductor  of  the  train,  then 
the  order  may  be  transmitted  to  the  other  train.  All 
special  orders  for  the  movements  of  trains,  whether 
sent  by  telegraph  or  otherwise,  must  be  communicated 
in  writing.  When  a  train  is  abandoned,  the  order  of 
the  superintendent  directing  its  abandonment  must  be 
sent  by  telegraph  to  all  agents,  conductors  and  engi- 
neers on  the  division. 

"  No  train  must  leave  a  station  to  run  upon  the  time 


THE   RAILWAY   TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM.  187 

of  an  abandoned  train,  which  by  the  regulations  would 
have  the  right  of  the  road,  unless  the  conductor  and 
engineer  of  such  trains  have  in  their  possession  a  copy 
of  the  order  of  abandonment  properly  signed  and 
certified  to  by  the  operator.  If  a  train  should  be  held 
at  night  at  any  telegraph  station  where  there  is  no 
night  operator,  the  conductor  must  call  the  day 
operator  into  his  office  for  the  purpose  of  receiving 
the  orders  necessary  before  going  ahead.  At  stations 
where  telegraphic  orders  are  awaiting  an  expected 
train,  operators  will  display  a  red  flag  by  day,  or  a  red 
light  by  night.  When  orders  are  duplicated  to  follow- 
ing trains,  the  understanding  of  each  conductor  and 
engineer  must  be  separately  written,  and  must  be 
responded  to  by  the  party  giving  the  order." 

THE    TRAIN    DISPATCHER    AND    OPERATOR. 

A  moment's  reflection  makes  it  manifest  that  the 
position  of  train  dispatcher  is  second  in  importance  to 
no  position  on  the  road.  He  is  frequently  found  to  be 
also  an  expert  operator,  but  it  is  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  he  should  be  a  telegrapher.  It  is  his  duty 
to  keep  the  localities  of  every  train  running  on  the 
division  constantly  in  his  mind,  and  issue  orders  to 
them  at  every  station  where  they  stop.  Where  the 
roads  have  only  single  tracks,  the  labors  and  responsi- 
bility of  a  train  dispatcher  are  very  great,  sometimes 
as  many  as  twenty  trains,  traveling  in  opposite  direc- 
tions, being  on  the  division  at  one  time.  All  these 
have  to  meet  and  pass  each  other  somewhere  along 


188  THE   RAILWAY    TELEGRAPHIC   SYSTEM. 

the  division.  The  dispatcher  must  know  just  where 
to  hold  the  train,  where  to  send  that  one  from  and 
how  far  to  run  it,  and  know  within  «,  second  just  when 
to  expect  a  train  at  a  station.  With  his  time  card 
before  him,  containing  the  names  of  all  stations  and 
numbers  of  all  trains,  the  dispatcher  sits  close  to  the 
operator,  surrounded  by  clicking  instruments,  checks 
off  train  and  station  as  arrivals  are  rapidly  telegraphed, 
and  quickly  issues  his  orders  to  the  operator,  to  be 
sent  to  expectant  trainmen  all  along  the  division.  The 
dispatcher  of  trains  on  a  single  track  is  the  player  of 
a  gigantic  game  of  chess,  the  men  in  which  are  to  be 
so  moved  that  they  may  never  be  brought  in  check. 
For  any  accident  by  collision  on  a  road,  the  dispatcher 
is  held  responsible,  unless  it  is  shown  that  his  orders 
were  disobeyed. 

His  companion  in  incessant  vigilance  should  not  be 
overlooked.  One  of  them  writes  with  a  sprightliness 
which  is  surprising:  "Imagine  yourself  stranded  at  an 
out-of-the-way  station,  right  in  the  woods  as  likely  as 
not,  and  nothing  more  exciting  than  the  monotonous 
train  report,  with  its  <Os,  Os,No.  3  X  O.  T.  at  9:15 
As,'  and  the  everlasting  string  of  figures  and  ciphers 
in  the  car-report  day  in  and  day  out,  with  now  and 
then  a  variation  in  the  shape  of  a  wreck,  which  keeps 
all  hands  up  all  night  sending  crossings  and  repeating 
orders  back  to  dispatchers  with  the  mystic  '  I  under- 
stand,' etc.,  and  see  how  you  relish  the  prospect. 
Then,  by  way  of  thanks  from  an  appreciative  public, 
comes  the  newspaper  report  in  the  case  of  every  other 


THE  RAILWAY  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM.        189 

accident  or  so,  censuring  the  telegraph  and  saddling 
the  whole  blame  on  some  defenceless  operator,  who 
has  been  so  badgered  and  worried  and  overworked 
that  he  couldn't  swear  to  the  difference  between  an  x 
and  a  g  if  he  were  to  be  hung  for  it." 

A    THRILLING    INCIDENT. 

The  following  instance  illustrates  the  responsibility 
attached  to-  the  position  of  train  dispatcher  : 

«  The  chief  dispatcher  upon  a  prominent  western  road 
had  ordered  Miss  D.,  operator  at  M.  station,  to  "hold 
the  through  freight  bound  east  for  further  orders." 
The  sharp  spiked  staff,  bearing  its  warning  signal  flag, 
was  set  in  its  usual  conspicuous  place,  but  just  as  the 
expected  train  rounded  the  curve  a  treacherous  puff 
of  wind  blew  the  flag  to  the  ground,  unnoticed  by  the 
operator,  whose  horror  can  be  more  easily  imagined 
than  described  as,  a  moment  after,  the  "  through 
freight,"  with  a  shriek  and  a  roar,  swept  past  the 
station  and  its  unseen  and  therefore  unheeded  signal, 
while  a  few  miles  ahead,  on  the  same  single  track,  an 
extra  was  speeding  along  in  the  opposite  direction, 
under  orders  that  had  been  given  by  the  dispatcher 
after  the  signal  had  been  set  at  M.  Miss  D.  hurriedly 
notified  the  dispatcher  of  the  accident.  There  was  one 
more  telegraph  station  for  the  through  freight  to  pass 
before  meeting  the  extra,  and  upon  the  chance  of  the 
faithfulness  of  this  one  operator  was  hung  the  fate  of 
the  rapidly  approaching  trains.  While  the  dispatcher's 
operator  "  called  "  the  station  rapidly  and  incessantly, 


190        THE  RAILWAY  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM. 

the  dispatcher  himself  walked  the  floor  in  an  agony  of 
suspense,  and  Miss  D.  could  see  nothing,  hear  nothing 
but  the  rapid  clicking  of  the  instrument  burning  itself 
into  her  very  brain  and  nerves.  The  moments  passed 
like  hours.  For  some  minutes  there  was  no  response, 
but  at  last  came  the  welcome  "  aye,  aye."  One  moment 
more  of  breathless  suspense  while  the  question  is  put: 
"  Has  engine  No.  —  passed  ?"  "Not  yet."  "Thank 
God !"  exclaims  the  dispatcher,  and  gives  the  necessary 
orders  to  avert  the  impending  calamity. 

THE  ANGUISH  AND  SUSPENSE  OF  AN  OPERATOR  WHO  "FORGOT." 

Fortunately  it  is  seldom  that  an  operator,  however 
harassed  he  may  be  with  other  cares  and  responsibili- 
ties, neglects  to  deliver  the  orders  he  has  received  for 
a  train.  That  he  should  occasionally  slip  in  this  par- 
ticular would  be  no  more  than  could  be  expected  from 
mortal  beings  who  have  more  to  look  after  than  any 
one  man  should.  At  many  stations  the  operator,  in 
addition  to  his  regular  telegraphic  duties,  is  called 
upon  to  sell  tickets,  check  baggage,  attend  to  express 
and  freight  matters,  and  the  like,  which  the  public  in 
their  intercourse  with  him  too  often  seem  to  entirely 
overlook.  Whenever  a  case  of  neglect  in  connection 
with  a  train  order  does  occur,  an  example  is  made  of 
the  man  by  instantly  dismissing  him.  An  operator 
who  was  'thus  discharged  writes  as  follows  of  his  feel- 
ings after  he  had  found  that  the  train  had  gone  by 
which  he  should  have  signaled  to  stop : 

"  I  forgot,  and  in  doing  so  have  forfeited  the  respect" 


THE    RAILWAY    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM.  191 

of  my  employers  as  well  as  my  position.  I  am  not  one 
who  is  in  the  habit  of  forgetting,  and  to  forget  when 
scores  of  lives  depend  on  my  memory  and  carefulness 
slakes  me  shudder  when  I  think  what  might  have 
:-ome  of  my  forgetting  this  time. 

"  It  was  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  had  made  a 
serious  mistake.  I  received  orders  for  the  east-bound 
passenger  train  yesterday  to  look  out  for  a  freight 
train  ahead  of  them  to  the  next  station  east  of  me,  and 
I  forgot  to  put  my  signal  flag  out  to  stop  the  passen- 
ger train.  Operators  know  what  my  mistake  means. 
It  means,  sometimes,  death  to  the  unfortunate  passen- 
gers, but,  thank  God,  in  this  case  no  harm  came  of  it, 
for  the  freight  train  had  a  good  start  and  got  safely  in 
on  the  side-track  before  the  passenger  train  came 
along.  Minutes  were  years  to  me  while  waiting  for 
the  signal  from  the  other  station  that  would  decide 
whether  all  were  safe  or  not.  My  heart  was  in  my 
mouth  every  time  the  line  would  open,  and  with  fear 
I  listened  to  every  stroke  of  the  sounder.  At  last  the 
welcome  "  rep."  G.  came,  and  I  knew  everything  was 
safe.  I  could  no  longer  bear  up  under  the  enormous 
strain  that  my  nerves  had  been  subjected  to  for  fifty 
^minutes.  I  raised  myself  from  the  instrument  table, 
staggered  to  the  door,  and  but  for  the  fresh  air  wo^ld 
have  fainted.  My  wife  saw  me  and  was  frightened  to 
see  my  pallid  face.  The  cold  perspiration  stood  out 
on  my  forehead,  my  hands  trembled  as  with  palsy,  and 
my  breath  came  in  gasps  as  I  tried  to  regain  posses- 
sion of  myself. 


192        THE  RAILWAY  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM. 

"  Those  who  have  passed  through  this  ordeal  can 
imagine  my  feelings  ;  the  awful  dread  which  comes 
over  one  when  the  discovery  is  first  made  that  a  train 
has  passed  which  should  have  been  stopped.  Hideous, 
laughing  demons  dance  before  one's  imagination,  in 
seeming  mockery  of  the  anguish  that  is  dragging  one 
almost  to  madness.  In  imagination  you  see  the 
mangled  and  lifeless  forms  that  but  a  moment  ago 
passed  you,  full  of  happiness  and  radiant  in  anticipa- 
tion of  meeting  dear  ones  at  their  destination. 

"  The  remorse,  the  utter  helplessness  that  overtakes 
one  in  such  a  moment  is  indescribable.  It  is  a  time 
the  memory  of  which  will  haunt  me  through  life. 
Amid  the  joys  and  pleasures  that  may  await  me  in  the 
future,  there  will  ever  be  a  spot  as  black  as  midnight 
darkness.  My  hand  trembles  when  I  take  hold  of  the 
key  that  may  deal  death  and  destruction  to  the  many 
lives  entrusted  to  my  care." 

A   NOBLE    RAILROAD    OPERATOR. 

An  account  has  reached  us  from  Parker  City,  Penn- 
sylvania, of  an  operator  whose  presence  of  mind  and 
firm  persistency  saved  probably  many  lives.  She  was 
employed  at  Sligo  Junction,  and  one  evening  wa 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  an  eastern-bound  train,  when  a 
long  freight,  numbering  fifty-five  heavily  laden  cars 
bound  westward,  slacked  up  at  the  station,  which  the 
conductor  entered.  After  registering  he  shouted  "  all 
right "  to  his  engineer,  and  was  about  to  get  on  his 
train  when  the  operator,  remembering  something 


THE    RAILWAY    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM.  193 

caught  from  the  subtle  click  of  her  instrument,  rushed 
out  and  bade  him  stop  his  train,  which  was  slowly 
moving  away.  He  replied  that  they  had  the  right  of 
way.  "No,"  said  the  operator,  "I  heard  an  order 
passing  over  the  wire,  telling  you  to  remain  here  until 
the  arrival  of  the  Sligo  passenger  train,  which  you  will 
certainly  meet,  because  it  is  somewhere  between  this 
and  the  next  station  westward.  This  order  should 
have  been  given  you  at  Troy  "  (a  station  just  passed  by 
the  freight).  The  conductor  was  persuaded  to  enter 
the  office  by  the  operator,  who,  going  to  the  key, 
asked  the  superintendent  at  Brookville  if  such  an 
order  had  been  sent  to  Troy.  "  Yes,"  was  the  reply. 
The  careless  operator  at  Troy  had  failed  to  deliver 
this  important  order,  but  the  carefully  trained  ear  of 
the  female  in  charge  at  Sligo  Junction  had  caught  it, 
and  the  result  was  the  hasty  switching  of  that  long 
freight  from  the  main  track  to  the  side.  Just  as  this 
was  done  a  shrill  whistle  announced  the  coming  of  the 
Sligo  train,  the  headlight  of  which  threw  a  glare  along 
the  track. 

Thankful  were  the  passengers,  conductor,  engineer, 
and  brakemen  that  their  lives  were  in  the  hands  of  one 
who  fully  realized  the  fact.  "  For,"  said  the  engineer 
of  the  freight,  "  I  could  not  have  stopped  my  heavy 
train  in  less  than  a  mile.  Our  escape  would  have  been 
impossible."  The  conductor  and  engineer  of  the  pas- 
senger train  feelingly  caught  the  operator's  hand  and 
thanked  her  for  preventing  an  accident  which  would 
have  certainly  cost  them  their  lives.  The  superintend- 


194  THE   RAILWAY    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM. 

ent  at  Brookville  telegraphed  his  thanks,  and  in  a  few 
days  sent  a  letter  of  commendation,  inclosing  a  bank 
check,  with  the  thanks  of  the  officers  of  the  road,  as  a 
mark  of  their  appreciation  of  her  care  and  attention  to 
business. 

NEW   INVENTIONS    IN   RAILROAD    SIGNALING. 

An  invention  has  been  secured  by  patent  in  this 
country,  by  a  Swede,  whose  apparatus  is  an  automatic 
railway  signal  which  enables  the  station  officers  to 
know  the  precise  position  of  any  train  at  any  time  ;  it 
gives  sound  signals  to  the  engineer  and  at  the  station 
before  the  train  enters,  thus  enabling  switches  to  be 
cleared  and  arranged  in  time  to  prevent  accidents. 
If  two  trains  approach  each  other,  whether  running  in 
the  same  or  opposite  directions,  the  engineers  of  both 
trains  receive  signals  in  time  to  prevent  collisions,  and 
the  station  people  are  at  the  same  time  automatically 
informed  of  the  position  of  both  trains.  Any  train 
may  be  stopped  at  certain  points  on  the  road  where 
"  contacts  "  are  arranged  upon  telegraphic  communi- 
cation with  the  stations  at  both  ends  of  the  route,  and 
two  trains  may  in  the  same  manner  telegraph  to  each 
other.  A  complete  record  is  automatically  kept  at 
each  station  of  the  speed  of  each  train,  and  of  the 
exact  time  it  enters  or  leaves  the  station.  Stop-signals 
may.  be  sent  at  any  time  from  the  stations  to  any  train 
while  moving.  The  apparatus  may  be  arranged  to  send 
stop  or  clanger  signals  to  trains  approaching  swinging 
bridges  which  are  not  properly  locked  and  fastened. 


THE    RAILWAY    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM.  195 

The  Union  Electric  Signal  Company  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  lately  exhibited  the  practical  working 
of  a  new  method  of  automatic  railway  signals,  known 
as  Robinson's  Contact  Circuit  Rail  system.  The  ex- 
periments were  made  at  a  street-crossing  of  the 
Boston  and  Providence  Railroad,  near  Boston,  in  the 
presence  of  a  number  of  gentlemen  interested  in  Amer- 
ican railway  matters.  The  system  tested  on  this 
occasion  differs  essentially  from  other  systems  of 
signaling  in  use,  in  that  the  rails  instead  of  wires  are 
employed  for  conducting  an  electric  current.  They 
are  divided  into  sections,  according  to  curves  and 
other  contingencies.  At  one  end  of  each  section  is 
placed  a  small  battery,  one  pole  of  which  is  connected 
to  either  rail,  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  section  is  an 
electro-magnet,  the  coils  of  which  are  connected  to  the 
two  rails,  thereby  establishing  a  constant  metallic 
circuit  through  the  rails  and  magnet.  At  either  end 
of  the  section  is  the  standard  bearing  the  signal,  which 
is  connected  with  the  circuit.  When  a  train  enters 
upon  the  section,  the  leading  wheels  and  axle  of  the 
engine  instantly  short-circuit  the  current,  the  magnet 
is  demagnetized,  and  on  the  latter  leaving  its  armature 
the  signal  is  mechanically  thrown  to  danger,  where  it 
remains  as  long  as  the  wheels  are  on  the  section,  and 
when  they  pass  off  the  signal  goes  back  to  safety,  and 
the  section  of  the  line  is  open  to  receive  another  train. 
By  this  means  the  rear  of  a  train  on  a  road  equipped 
with  these  signals  will  always  be  safely  guarded. 
Actual  experience  has  demonstrated  that  the  rails  are 


196  THE   BAILWAY    TELEGBAPHIC    SYSTEM. 

vastly  superior  as  conductors  to  any  surrounding 
media,  and  that  the  electricity  will  adhere  to  them  in 
preference  to  passing  off  to  earth,  despite  rain  or  snow. 
After  the  operation  of  the  system  had  been  witnessed 
for  upward  of  an  hour,  as  the  various  up  and  down 
trains  passed  the  crossing,  it  was  pronounced  unani- 
mously to  be  an  unqualified  success,  and  calculated  to 
be  of  great  service  in  perfecting  the  safety  appliances 
which  all  the  American  railways  will  ere  long  be  com- 
pelled to  use. 

Eight  here  is  the  place  to  say  that  a  Swiss  inventor 
envelopes  the  driving  axle  of  locomotives  in  coils  of 
insulated  copper  wire,  and  by  the  passage  of  an  electric 
current  converts  the  wheels  into  powerful  magnets 
with  increased  adhesion  to  the  rails. 

A  new  system  of  telegraphic  signals  has  been  intro- 
duced by  way  of  experiment  at  the  Boston  end  of  the 
Lowell  Kailroad.  A  box  in  the  train  house  of  the 
passenger  depot  on  Causeway  street  is  connected  by 
wires  with  the  office  of  the  ticket  master,  who,  when  a 
train  starts,  by  the  pressure  of  a  finger  upon  a  little 
instrument,  displays  at  an  aperture  in  front  of  the  box 
a  red  flag  if  in  the  day,  or  if  at  night  time  the  red  sides 
of  a  lantern  to  view.  When  the  engine  reaches  the 
rail  directly  in  front  of  the  station  at  East  Cambridge 
the  electric  current  is  opened,  and  the  red  nag  disap- 
pears or  the  lantern  shows  a  white  light.  A  bell  is 
also  rung  at  the  same  moment  in  the  ticket  office.  If 
this  system  works  well,  and  is  adopted  along  the  line 
generally,  it  may  easily  be  so  perfected  that  knowledge 


THE    RAILWAY    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM.  197 

of  the  position  of  a  train  may  be  known  at  any  station 
which  it  has  just  left,  and  thereby  insure  comparative 
safety  to  passengers. 

Many  accidents  have  occurred  from  trains  breaking 
apart,  the  engineer  not  being  notified  of  the  fact. 
There  has  long  been  needed  some  connection  through- 
out the  train  more  effective  than  the  old-fashioned 
bell-rope,  which,  though  perhaps  sufficient  for  passen- 
ger trains,  is  not  applicable  to  freight.  Major  V.  B. 
Bell  has  brought  out  an  invention,  especially  adapted 
to  freight  trains,  which  promises  to  secure  the  desired 
end.  It  is  simply  a  train  telegraph.  In  one  corner  of 
the  caboose  is  a  battery,  differing  from  common  tele- 
graph batteries  in  being  constructed  of  leather  and 
copper,  and  being  closely  boxed — connecting  with  an 
alarm  in  a  small  box  on  the  side  of  the  caboose  and 
with  another  on  the  engine ;  wires  run  beneath  all  the 
cars,  and  the  connection  is  established  between  the 
cars  by  flexible  copper  wires,  covered,  which  can  be 
detached,  being  held  in  their  places  by  any  single 
spring  catch — the  common  spring  clothes-pin  being 
used  at  present.  When  the  train  breaks,  these  cords 
are  unfastened,  the  connection  is  broken,  the  alarm  is 
sounded  in  the  caboose,  and  the  engine  and  the  train 
is  stopped.  This  is  the  principal  object  of  the  inven- 
tion ;  but  by  means  of  it  the  conductor  can,  by  simply 
moving  the  key  of  the  alarm  box,  signal  the  engineer 
to  back,  go  ahead,  etc.  A  thorough  test  of  it  was 
recently  made  by  practical  railway  operatives  and 
managers,  and  the  results  are  pronounced  satisfactory. 


198  THE   RAILWAY    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM. 

Though  the  machinery  was  necessarily  imperfect — 
being  all  new  and  untried — the  inventor  was  able  to 
answer  all  objections  and  explain  how  all  proposed 
difficulties  may  be  easily  surmounted.  The  apparatus 
would  cost  about  seventy-five  dollars. 

Nervous  people  will  appreciate  the  announcement 
that  locomotive  whistling  promises  to  be  an  abomina- 
tion of  the  past.  At  Poughkeepsie,  in  this  State,  it  is 
to  be  superseded  by  a  bell  worked  by  electricity, 
which  will  be  set  up  in  the  depot.  When  the  train 
arrives  within  a  mile  of  the  station,  the  bell  will  ring 
until  it  gets  to  the  depot.  The  danger  signal  is  thus 
given,  and  the  waste  of  steam  is  avoided,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  racket. 

It  may  not  be  entirely  out  of  place  to  close  this 
sub- section  with  the  statement  that  a-i  interest! '•<>•  .^;- 
plication  of  electricity,  in  connection  with  a  taint  for 
supplying  locomotives  with  water,  is  now  in  operation 
at  Buda  Station,  on  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and 
Quincy  Eailroad.  The  steam  pump  which  supplies 
the  tank  is  on  the  bank  of  a  small  stream  half  a  mile 
distant,  and  entirely  out  of  sight.  A  float  is  arranged 
so  that  if  the  water  is  drawn  off  to  a  level  more  than 
two  or  three  inches  below  the  top  of  the  tank  a  circuit 
is  closed,  connecting  by  wires  with  the  pump  house. 
This  sets  an  alarm  bell  ringing  within  hearing  of  the 
engineer,  who  then  starts  his  pump,  and  runs  it  till 
the  tank  is  full,  of  which  due  notice  is  given  by  the 
cessation  of  the  alarm.  This  arrangement  was  devised 
by  Fred.  H.  Tubbs,  then  superintendent  of  telegraphs 


THE   RAILWAY   TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM.  199 

on  the  C.  B.  and  Q.  K.  B.,  but  now  superintendent  of 
the  American  Union  Telegraph  Company  at  Chicago, 
and  has  worked  for  a  long  time  in  the  most  satisfactory 


FUN   ABOUT    SIGNALING. 

With  the  American  propensity  to  relieve  overtaxed 
energies  with  harmless  nonsense,  everybody  is  familiar, 
as  all  commend  it.  The  subject  of  this  chapter  has 
proved  most  fertile  in  nonsensical  suggestions  and 
funny  yarns,  but  we  resist  the  temptation  to  enlarge 
it  excepting  by  a  little  of  such  material. 

ROUSING   THE    SLEEPING   CAR    PORTER. 

From  the  "West  we  hear  of  a  gentleman  lately 
returned  to  Milwaukee  from  a  trip,  who  tells  of  a 
new  use  that  has  been  found  for  electricity  that  even 
beats  the  telephone  or  the  phonograph.  It  is  a  device 
by  which  the  colored  sleeping  car  porter  can  be 
awakened  at  every  station.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
normal  condition  of  the  colored  person  is  to  be  asleep. 
The  colored  person  goes  to  sleep  on  the  slightest 
provocation.  In  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  this  ec- 
centricity can  be  overlooked  and  provided  for,  but  the 
business  of  sleeping  car  porters  has  baffled  scientists 
to  devise  a  method  of  keeping  them  awake.  A  porter 
can  be  kept  awake  by  constantly  whistling,  but  this 
practice  has  a  tendency  to  awaken  passengers  who  do 
not  desire  to  be  awakened.  The  inventor  has  adapted 
electricity  to  this  branch  of  railroading  in  such  a  man- 


200  THE   EAILWAY    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM. 

ner  that  the  colored  person's  usefulness  is  increased, 
at  very  little  expense.  It  is  desirable  that  the  porter 
should  be  awake  at  each  station  where  the  sleeper 
stops,  in  order  to  snatch  the  small  baggage  of  those 
who  get  aboard,  and  throw  it  under  the  seats. 

A  wire  runs  from  the  engine  under  the  cars,  and  is 
connected  with  an  electric  disk  in  the  cushion  of  the 
hind  seat  of  the  sleeper,  where  the  colored  man  is  apt 
to  congregate,  and  at  the  same  moment  that  the  engi- 
neer rings  the  bell  on  approaching  a  station,  he 
touches  the  thingumbob  attached  to  the  wire.  Sup- 
pose the  porter  to  be  seated  in  his  accustomed  place, 
peacefully  dreaming  the  happy  hours  away.  His  head 
is  thrown  back,  his  eyelids  are  in  repose,  his  mouth  is 
open  like  an  approach  to  a  tunnel.  He  is  sitting  on 
the  electric  disk.  The  hand  of  the  engineer  playfully 
touches  the  cornucopia,  the  lightning  flashes  back  to 
the  sleeper,  a  charge  of  electricity  goes  meandering 
up  the  spinal  column  of  the  African,  he  is  raised 
toward  the  roof  of  the  car,  and  when  he  comes  down 
he  is  wide  awake  and  ready  for  business. 

ANOTHER    ANTI-SLEEPING   INVENTION. 

It  is  said  that  at  a  certain  station  on  the  Philadel- 
phia and  Erie  Railroad,  the  company  has  a  new  night 
telegraph  operator  who,  if  inclined  to  slumber,  is  too 
ingeniously  wide  awake  to  be  caught  napping  at  his 
post.  Recently  he  was  seized  with  drowsiness,  which 
he  could  not  shake  off.  As  it  was  his  duty  to  report 
all  passing  trains,  he  dared  not  yield,  and  yet  could 


THE   RAILWAY   TELEGRAPHIC   SYSTEM.  201 

not  resist.  That  mother  of  invention,  necessity,  at 
length  suggested  an  alarm  signal,  which  he  proceeded 
to  put  in  operation  by  suspending  a  scuttle  full  of 
coal  by  means  of  a  cord  which  was  passed  through  the 
keyhole  of  his  office  door,'  and  fastened  across  the 
track  at  the  requisite  elevation.  Mr.  Operator  then 
resigned  himself  to  rosy  dreams,  which  were  finally 
interrupted  by  a  passing  train,  the  engine  of  which 
snapped  the  cord,  causing  the  coal-scuttle  to  come 
down  with  a  rattle-te-bang  that  would  have  aroused 
even  a  sleeping  New  York  policeman.  Another  young 
operator,  some  thirty  miles  up  the  road,  let  a  train 
slip  by  him  the  same  night,  and  applied  to  the  in- 
ventor of  the  coal-scuttle  alarm  to  know  when  the 
train  passed  his  station.  No  answer  was  vouchsafed, 
the  inventor  remarking :  "  Why  don't  the  blockhead 
get  the  right  to  use  my  patent!" 


202  ELECTRICITY    AND    LIFE. 


ELECTEICITT  AND  LIFE. 

Very  little  is  known  of  electricity,  perhaps  it  may 
truly  be  said  nothing  beyond  what  has  been  observed 
of  its  effects.  What  it  is  in  itself,  its  relations  or 
possible  oneness  with  heat  and  light,  are  unknown. 
Professor  Faraday,  on  one  occasion,  in  speaking  on 
the  nature  of  electricity  before  the  British  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  thus  expressed  his 
views:  "There  was  a  time  when  I  thought  I  knew 
something  about  the  matter;  but  the  longer  I  live 
and  the  more  carefully  I  study  the  subject,  the  more 
convinced  I  am  of  my  total  ignorance  of  the  nature 
of  electricity."  Enough  of  its  operations  have  been 
seen  and  noted,  however,  to  suggest  that  its  possible 
usefulness  is  beyond  present  calculation  and  even 
conception.  Among  these  is  the  influence  it  possesses 
in  the  stimulation  and  support  of  both  animal  and 
vegetable  life,  including  the  highest  development  of 
the  first  named,  so  far  as  we  know,  in  the  human 
being.  Every  reader  is,  of  course,  acquainted  with 
the  fact  that  the  electric  battery  is  extensively  em- 
ployed as  a  remedial  agent,  and  that  experiments 
are  constantly  in  progress  with  the  view  to  determine, 
if  possible,  the  exact  value  of  electricity  in  therapeu- 
tics, and  in  the  case  of  children,  animals  and  plants. 
A  brief  statement  of  selected  information  on  the 


ELECTRICITY   AND    LITE  203 

general  subject  will  be  both  interesting  and   valu- 
able. 

THE   ELECTRIC    GIRL   OF    LA    PERRIERE. 

The  extraordinary  phenomena  we  are  about  to  relate 
occurred  in  the  commune  of  La  Perriere,  situated  in 
the  department  of  Orne,  France,  in  January,  1846. 
They  seem  to  be  properly  authenticated,  and  are  not 
incredible  in  themselves.  The  astonishing  electrical 
force  exerted  by  the  electric  eel,  found  in  some  rivers 
of  South  America,  is  familiar  to  everybody,  and  shows 
the  force  which  can  be  employed  by  the  animal  or- 
ganism when  charged,  so  to  speak,  with  the  electric 
fluid. 

Angelique  Cottin,  a  peasant  girl  fourteen  years  of 
age,  robust  and  in  good  health,  but  very  imperfectly 
educated  and  of  limited  intelligence,  lived  with  her 
aunt,  the  widow  Loisnard,  in  a  cottage  with  an 
earthen  floor,  close  to  the  chateau  of  Monti-Mer, 
inhabited  by  its  proprietor,  M.  de  Faremont. 

The  weather  for  eight  days  previous  to  the  fifteenth 
of  January,  1846,  had  been  heavy  and  tempestuous, 
with  constantly  recurring  storms  of  thunder  and 
lightning,  and  the  atmosphere  was  charged  with  elec- 
tricity. 

On  the  evening  of  that  fifteenth  of  January,  at  eight 
o'clock,  while  Angelique,  in  company  with  three  other 
young  girls,  was  at  work  as  usual  in  her  aunt's  cot- 
tage, weaving  ladies'  silk-net  gloves,  the  frame,  made 
of  rough  oak  and  weighing  about  twenty-five  pounds, 
to  which  was  attached  the  end  of  the  warp,  was  upset 


204  ELECTBICIT7    AND    LIFE 

and  the  candlestick  on  it  thrown  to  the  ground.  The 
girls,  blaming  each  other  as  having  caused  the  acci- 
dent, replaced  the  frame,  relighted  the  candle  and 
went  to  work  again.  A  second  time  the  frame  was 
thrown  down  Thereupon  the  children  ran  away, 
afraid  of  a  thing  so  strange,  and,  with  (he  super- 
stition common  to  their  class,  dreaming  of  witchcraft. 
The  neighbors,  attracted  by  their  cries,  refused  to 
credit  their  story  So  returning,  but  with  fear  and 
trembling,  two  of  them  at  first,  afterward  a  third, 
resumed  their  occupation,  without  the  recurrence  of 
the  alarming  phenomenon.  But  as  soon  as  the  girl 
Cottin,  imitating  her  companions,  had  touched  her 
warp,  the  frame  agitated  again,  moved  about,  was 
upset,  and  then  thrown  violently  back.  The  girl  was 
drawn  irresistibly  after  it,  but  as  soon  as  she  touched 
it,  it  moved  still  further  away. 

Upon  this  the  aunt,  thinking,  like  the  children,  that 
there  must  be  sorcery  in  the  case,  took  her  niece  to  the 
parsonage  of  La  Perriere,  demanding  exorcism.  The 
curate,  an  enlightened  man,  at  first  laughed  at  her 
story ;  but  the  girl  had  brought  her  glove  with 
her,  and  fixing  it  to  a  kitchen  chair,  the  chair,  like 
the  frame,  was  repulsed  and  upset,  without  being 
touched  by  Angelique.  The  curate  then  sat  down 
on  the  chair ;  but  both  chair  and  he  were  thrown 
to  the  ground  in  like  manner.  Thus  practically  con- 
vinced of  the  reality  of  a  phenomenon  which  he  could 
not  explain,  the  good  man  reassured  the  terrified  aunt 
by  telling  her  it  was  some  bodily  disease  and,  very 
sensibly,  referred  the  matter  to  the  physicians. 


ELECTRICITY    AND    LIFE.  205 

The  next  day  the  aunt  related  the  above  particulars 
to  M.  de  Faremont ;  but  for  the  time  the  effects  had 
ceased.  Three  days  later,  at  nine  o'clock,  that  gentle- 
man was  summoned  to  the  cottage,  where  he  verified 
the  fact  that  the  frame  was  at  intervals  thrown  back 
from  Angelique  with  such  force  that,  when  exerting 
his  utmost  strength  and  holding  it  with  both  hands, 
he  was  unable  to  prevent  its  motion.  He  observed 
that  the  motion  was  partly  rotary,  from  left  to  right. 
He  particularly  noticed  that  her  feet  did  not  touch 
the  frame,  and  that  when  repulsed  she  seemed  drawn 
irresistibly  after  it,  stretching  out  her  hands  as  if 
instinctively  toward  it.  It  was  afterward  remarked 
that  when  a  piece  of  furniture  or  other  object  thus 
acted  upon  by  Angelique  was  too  heavy  to  be  moved, 
she  herself  was  thrown  back,  as  if  by  the  reaction  of 
the  force  upon  her  person. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  January  the  phenomena  in- 
creased in  violence  and  in  variety.  A  chair  on  which 
the  girl  had  attempted  to  sit  down,  though  held  by 
three  strong  men,  was  thrown  off,  in  spite  of  their 
efforts,  to  several  yards  distance.  Shovels,  tongs, 
lighted  firewood,  brushes,  books,  were  all  set  in  mo- 
tion when  the  girl  approached  them.  A  pair  of  scissors 
fastened  to  her  girdle  was  detached  and  thrown  into 
the  air. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  January,  M.  de  Faremont 
took  the  child  and  her  aunt  in  his  carriage  to  the  small 
neighboring  town  of  Mamers.  There,  before  two 
physicians  and  several  ladies  and  gentlemen,  articles 


206  ELECTRICITY   AND    LIFE. 

of  furniture  moved  about  on  her  approach.  And  there, 
also,  the  following  conclusive  experiment  was  tried  by 
M.  de  Faremont : 

Into  one  end  of  a  ponderous  wooden  block,  weighing 
upward  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  he  caused  a 
small  hook  to  be  driven.  To  this  he  made  Angelique 
fix  her  silk.  As  soon  as  she  sat  down  and  her  frock 
touched  the  block,  the  latter  was  instantly  raised  three 
or  four  inches  from  the  ground  ;  and  this  was  repeated 
as  many  as  forty  times  in  a  minute.  Then,  after  suf- 
fering the  girl  to  rest,  M.  de  Faremont  seated  himself 
on  the  block,  and  was  elevated  in  the  same  way.  Then 
three  men  placed  themselves  upon  it,  and  were  raised 
also,  only  not  quite  so  high.  "It  is  certain,"  says  M. 
de  Faremont,  "that  I  and  one  of  the  most  athletic 
porters  of  the  Halle  could  not  have  lifted  that  block 
with  the  three  persons  seated  on  it." 

Dr.  Verger  came  to  Mamers  to  see  Angelique,  whom, 
as  well  as  her  family,  he  had  previously  known.  On 
the  twenty-eighth  of  January,  in  the  presence  of  the 
curate  of  Saint  Martin  and  of  the  chaplain  of  the  Bel- 
lesme  hospital  the  following  incidents  occurred.  As 
the  child  could  not  sew  without  pricking  herself  with 
the  needle,  nor  use  scissors  without  wounding  her 
hands,  they  set  her  to  shelling  peas,  placing  a  large 
basket  before  her.  As  soon  as  her  dress  touched  the 
basket,  and  she  reached  her  hand  to  begin  work,  the 
basket  was  violently  repulsed,  and  the  peas  projected 
upward  and  scattered  over  the  room.  This  was  twice 
repeated,  under  the  same  circumstances.  Dr.  Lemon- 


ELECTRICITY    AND    LIFE.  207 

nier,  of  St.  Maurice,  testifies  to  the  same  phenomenon, 
as  occurring  in  his  presence  and  in  that  of  the  procu 
rtitor  royal  of  Mortagne  ;  he  noticed  that  the  left  hand 
produced  the  greater  effect.  He  adds  that  he  and 
another  gentleman  having  endeavored,  with  all  their 
strength,  to  hold  a  chair  on  which  Angelique  sat  down, 
it  was  violently  forced  from  them,  and  one  of  its  legs 
broken. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  January,  M.  de  Faremont  tried 
the  effect  of  insulation.  When,  by  means  of  dry  glass, 
he  insulated  the  child's  feet  and  the  chair  on  which  she 
sat,  the  chair  ceased  to  move,  and  she  remained  per- 
fectly quiet.  M.  Olivier,  government  engineer,  tried 
a  similar  experiment,  with  the  same  results.  A  week 
later,  M.  Hebert,  repeating  this  experiment,  discovered 
that  insulation  of  the  chair  was  unnecessary;  it  sufficed 
to  insulate  the  girl.  Dr.  Beaumont,  vicar  of  Pin-la 
Grarenne,  noticed  a  fact,  insignificant  in  appearance 
yet  quite  as  conclusive  as  were  the  more  violent  mani- 
festations, as  to  the  reality  of  the  phenomena.  Having 
moistened  with  saliva  the  scattered  hairs  on  his  own 
arm,  so  that  they  lay  flattened,  attached  to  the 
epidermis,  when  he  approached  his  arm  to  the  left 
arm  of  the  giii,  the  hairs  instantly  erected  themselves. 
M:  Hebert  repeated  the  same  experiment  several  times, 
always  with  a  similar  result. 

M.  Olivier  also  tried  the  following :  With  a  stick  of 
sealing-wax  which  he  had  subjected  to  friction,  he 
touched  the  girl's  arm,  and  it  gave  her  a  considerable 
shock ;  but  on  touching  her  with  another  similar  stick 


208  ELECTRICITY   AND    LITE. 

that  had  not  been  rubbed,  she  experienced  no  effect 
whatever.  Yet  when  M.  de  Faremont,  on  the  nine- 
teenth of  January,  tried  the  same  experiment  with  a 
stick  of  sealing-wax  and  a  glass  tube,  well  prepared 
by  rubbing,  he  obtained  no  effect  whatever.  So  also 
a  pendulum  of  light  pith,  brought  into  close  prox- 
imity to  her  person  at  various  points,  was  neither 
attracted  nor  repulsed  in  the  slightest  degree. 

Toward  the  beginning  of  February,  Angelique  was 
obliged  for  several  days  to  eat  standing ;  she  could 
not  sit  down  on  a  chair.  This  fact  Dr.  Verger  repeat- 
edly verified.  Holding  her  by  the  arm  to  prevent 
accident,  the  moment  she  touched  the  chair  it  was 
projected  from  under  her,  and  she  would  have  fallen 
but  for  his  support.  At  such  times,  to  take  rest,  she 
had  to  sit  herself  on  the  floor,  or  on  a  stone  provided 
for  the  purpose. 

On  one  occasion,  "  she  approached,"  says  M.  de 
Faremont,  "  one  of  those  rough,  heavy  bedsteads  used 
by  the  peasantry,  weighing,  with  the  coarse  bed- 
clothes, some  three  hundred  pounds,  and  sought  to 
lie  down  on  it.  The  bed  shook  and  oscillated  in  an 
incredible  manner  ;  no  force  that  I  know  of  is  capable 
of  communicating  to  it  such  a  movement.  Then  she 
went  to  another  bed,  which  was  raised  from  the  ground 
on  wooden  rollers,  six  inches  in  diameter;  and  it  was 
immediately  thrown  off  the  rollers."  All  this  M.  de 
Faremont  personally  witnessed. 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  of  February,  Dr. 
Verger  received  Angelique  into  his  house.  On  that 


ELECTRICITY   AND    LIFE.  209 

day  and  the  next  upward  of  one  thousand  persons 
called  to  see  her.  The  constant  experiments,  which 
on  that  occasion  were  continued  into  the  night,  so 
fatigued  the  poor  girl  that  the  effects  were  sensibly 
diminished.  Yet  even  then  a  small  table  brought  near 
to  her  was  thrown  down  so  violently  that  it  broke  to 
pieces.  It  was  of  cherry-wood  and  varnished. 

"In  a  general  way,"  says  Dr.  Beaumont-Chardon,  "I 
think  the  effects  were  more  marked  with  me  than  with 
others,  because  I  never  evinced  suspicion,  and  spared 
her  all  suffering  ;  and  I  thought  I  could  observe  that, 
although  her  powers  were  not  under  the  control  of  her 
will,  yet  they  were  greatest  when  her  mind  was  at 
ease  and  she  was  in  good  spirits."  It  appeared,  also, 
that  on  waxed  or  even  tiled  floors,  but  more  especially 
on  carpets,  the  effects  were  much  less  than  on  an 
earthen  floor  like  that  of  the  cottage  where  they  orig- 
inally showed  themselves. 

At  first  wooden  furniture  seemed  exclusively  af- 
fected ;  but  at  a  later  period  metal  also,  as  tongs  and 
shovels,  though  in  a  less  degree,  appeared  to  be  sub- 
jected to  this  extraordinary  influence.  When  the 
child's  powers  were  the  most  active,  achual  contact 
was  not  necessary.  Articles  of  furniture  and  other 
small  objects  moved,  if  she  accidentally  approached 
them. 

Up  to  the  sixth  of  February  she  had  been  visited  by 
more  than  two  thousand  persons,  including  distin- 
guished physicians  from  the  towns  of  Bellesine  and 
Mortagne  and  from  all  the  neighborhood,  magistrates, 


210  ELECTRICITY   AND   LIFE. 

lawyers,  ecclesiastics  and  others.  Some  gave  her 
money.  Then,  in  an  evil  hour,  listening  to  the  mer- 
cenary suggestion,  the  parents  conceived  the  idea  that 
the  poor  girl  might  be  made  a  source  of  pecuniary 
gain ;  and  notwithstanding  the  advice  and  remonstrance 
of  her  true  friends — M.  de  Faremont,  Dr.  Verger,  M. 
Hebert  and  others — her  father  resolved  to  exhibit  her 
in  Paris,  where  the  phenomena  continued  for  a  time 
and  then  ceased. 

Dr.  Tanchon  says  that  a  chair  which  he  held  firmly 
with  both  hands  was  forced  back  as  soon  as  she 
attempted  to  sit  down ;  a  middle-sized  dining-table 
was  displaced  and  repulsed  by  the  touch  of  her  dress ; 
a  large  sofa,  on  which  Dr.  Tanchon  was  sitting,  was 
pushed  violently  to  the  wall  as  soon  as  the  child  sat 
down  beside  him.  The  doctor  remarked  that  when  a 
chair  was  thrown  back  from  under  her,  her  clothes 
seemed  attracted  by  it,  and  adhered  to  it  until  it  was 
repulsed  beyond  their  reach ;  that  the  power  was 
greater  from  the  left  hand  than  from  the  right,  and 
that  the  former  was  warmer  than  the  latter,  and  often 
trembled,  agitated  by  unusual  contractions  ;  that  the 
influence  emanating  from  the  girl  was  intermittent, 
not  permanent,  being  usually  most  powerful  from 
seven  till  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  possibly  influ- 
enced by  the  principal  meal  of  the  day,  dinner,  taken 
at  six  o'clock ;  that  when  the  girl  was  cut  off  from 
contact  with  the  earth,  either  by  placing  her  feet  on 
a  non-conductor  or  merely  by  keeping  them  raised 
from  the  ground,  the  power  ceased,  and  she  could 


ELECTRICITY    AND    LITE.  211 

remain  seated  quietly  ;  that,  during  the  paroxysm,  if 
her  left  hand  touched  any  object,  she  threw  it  from 
her  as  if  it  burned  her,  complaining  that  it  pricked 
her,  especially  on  the  wrist ;  that,  happening  one  day 
to  accidentally  touch  the  nape  of  her  neck,  the  girl 
ran  from  him  crying  out  with  pain  ;  and  that  repeated 
observation  assured  him  of  the  fact  that  there  was,  in 
the  region  of  the  cerebellum,  and  at  the  point  where 
the  superior  muscles  of  the  neck  are  inserted  in  the. 
cranium,  a  point  so  acutely  sensitive  that  the  child 
would  not  suffer  there  the  lightest  touch ;  and,  finally, 
that  the  girl's  pulse,  often  irregular,  usually  varied 
from  one  hundred  and  five  to  one  hundred  and 
twenty  beats  a  minute. 

These  curious  phenomena,  which  were  given  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  in  the  year  1866,  created  great  interest. 
A  case  very  similar  to  that  of  Angelique  Cottiu 
occurred  in  the  month  of  December  previous,  in  the 
person  of  a  young  girl,  not  quite  fourteen  years  old, 
apprenticed  to  a  colorist  in  the  Rue  Descartes,  Paris. 
The  occurrences  were  quite  as  marked  as  those  in 
the  Cottin  case.  The  professor,  seated  one  day  near 
the  girl,  was  raised  from  the  floor,  along  with  the 
chair  on  which  he  sat.  There  were  also  occasional 
knockings.  The  phenomena  commenced  December 
2d,  1845,  and  lasted  twelve  days. 

A   WESTERN    ELECTRICAL    LADY. 

The  case  of  an  American  lady,  resident  at  Nevada 
City,  is  interesting  to  scientific  men,  and  not  less  so 


212 


ELECTRICITY   AND    LIFE. 


to  those  of  us  who  remember  our  boyish  freak  of 
producing  electric  phenomena  by  rubbing  poor  pussy's 
coat  headwards.  For  many  years,  we  are  told,  the 
subject  of  this  paragraph  was  afflicted  with  acute  neu- 
ralgic pains  in  various  parts  of  the  body,  and,  hoping 
to  find  relief,  resorted  to  the  use  of  an  electrical  bat- 
tery. She  used  the  apparatus  for  six  months,  but 
found  no  relief.  At  that  time  nothing  was  noted  of 
unusual  character  as  the  result,  and  although  several 
months  elapsed,  it  was  only  when  cold  weather  com- 
menced that  any  extraordinary  symptoms  followed. 
One  night  after  this  the  lady  had  occasion  to  enter  a 
dark  room  and  pick  up  a  woolen  coat  that  was  lying 
there.  As  she  did  she  was  both  surprised  and  fright- 
ened to  observe  a  bright  light  surrounding  the  hand 
that  held  the  garment.  At  the  same  time  the  electric 
currents  passed  along  the  arm,  shocking  her  quite 
severely.  When  her  husband  was  informed  of  the 
fact  he  discredited  its  reality,  thinking  there  was  more 
imagination  than  anything  else  in  it.  So  the  next 
evening,  to  convince  the  incredulous  better  half,  she 
turned  the  gas  out  in  the  room  where  they  were  sit- 
ting, and  letting  her  hair  down  began  combing  it.  A 
remarkable  display  of  light  was  the  result.  The 
sparks  flew  around  in  every  direction,  and  there  was  a 
sharp,  cracking  sound  as  the  teeth  of  the  comb  passed 
between  the  Lairs.  In  laying  her  hands  upon  iron  the 
lady  did  not  observe  the  peculiarities  referred  to ;  but 
the  instant  she  touched  a  woolen  cloth  the  fire  began 


ELECTRICITY   AND    LIFE.  213 

to  fly,  and  the  shocks  followed  one  another  in  rapid 
succession. 

ELECTRICITY   ON   THE   DINNER   TABLE. 

An  experimentist,  Dr.  Gladstone,  says  that  in  daily 
life  weak  electrical  currents  are  at  work  where  their 
presence  is  often  little  suspected :  for  instance,  sup- 
posing a  person  at  dinner  to  have  a  silver  fork  in  one 
hand  and  a  finger  upon  the  steel  part  of  a  knife  held 
in  the  other,  it  follows  that,  when  he  plunges  the 
knife  and  fork  into  a  beefsteak,  two  dissimilar  metals 
are  thereby  placed  in  a  moist  conducting  substance, 
consequently  a  voltaic  circuit  is  formed,  and  an  electric 
current  flows  through  the  body  of  the  individual 
between  the  knife  and  fork.  To  prove  that  this  was 
really  the  case,  he  connected  a  reflecting  galvanometer 
with  the  knife  and  fork  by  means  of  wires  ;  he  then 
proceeded  to  cut  a  beefsteak,  and  the  current  thus 
generated  deflected  the  needle  of  the  galvanometer,  so 
that  the  spot  of  light  which  it  reflected  was  seen 
traveling  along  the  screen  by  all  the  observers. 

FEELING  PULSE  BY  TELEGRAPH. 

"While  lecturing,  some  time  ago,  Dr.  Upham,  of 
Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  order  to  explain  to  his  audi- 
ence the  variations  of  the  pulse  in  certain  diseases, 
caused  the  lecture  room  to  be  placed  in  telegraphic 
communication  with  the  city  hospital  of  Boston,  dis- 
tant fifteen  miles,  and  by  means  of  special  apparatus 
the  various  pulse  beats  were  exhibited  by  a  vibrating 


214  ELECTRICITY    AND   LIFE. 

ray  of  magnesium  light  upon  the  wall.     These  experi- 
ments have  since  been  repeated  at  Paris  with  success. 

DEVELOPMENT    OF    YOUTH   BY   ELECTRICITY. 

Dr.  Poggioli  recently  read  a  paper  at  a  meeting  of 
the  British  Academy  of  Medicine,  on  the  "Physical  and 
Intellectual  Development  of  Youth  by  Electricity." 
He  remarked  that  De  Candolle  had  quoted  experi- 
ments to  show  that  vegetation  is  much  richer  and 
quicker  in  its  growth  when  electrified  than  otherwise. 
Seeds  subjected  to  the  action  of  this  fluid  would  yield 
better  produce  than  others,  and  in  a  shorter  time. 
Starting  from  these  data,  Dr.  Poggioli  conceived  the 
idea  that  a  similar  action  might  be  proved  to  exist  in 
the  animal  kingdom,  and  especially  in  the  case  of 
young  subjects.  He  adduced  five  instances  of  chil- 
dren, varying  between  the  ages  of  four  and  sixteen, 
and  having  all  attained  a  remarkable  development, 
both  in  a  physical  and  an  intellectual  sense.  Among 
these  the  :-e  was  a  child  which  might  be  considered  a 
pLenoinei.on  of  deformity  and  stupidity,  and  that 
under  the  influence  of  electricity  grew  three  centi- 
m'etres  in  a  single  mouth,  and  has  since  been  always 
first,  instead  of  last,  in  his  class.  From  this  Dr.  Pog- 
gioli concludes  that  the  electric  fluid  exercises  a  direct 
influence  over  the  physical  and  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  young  subjects. 

ELECTRICITY   IN    SURGERY   AND    DENTISTRY. 

It  is  stated  that  when  General  Kilpatrick  returned 
from  Chili,  a  few  years  ago,  he  had  a  remarkable 


ELECTRICITY   AND   LITE.  215 

operation  performed  by  a  physician  in  New  York,  who 
removed  a  large  fleshy  formation  from  the  general's 
neck  by  filling  it  full  of  needles  and  then  attaching  a 
galvanic  battery  to  it.  Ten  minutes  after  the  current 
of  electricity  was  let  on,  the  bunch  had  entirely  disap- 
peared. 

Again,  we  learn  that  a  Philadelphia  dentist  has 
invented  a  little  machine  for  driving  the  filling  into 
teeth,  which  works  by  electro-magnetism.  The  ham- 
mer, or  "  plunger,"  working  within  a  small  cylinder, 
may  be  made  to  deliver  its  blows  at  the  rate  of  several 
hundred  strokes  a  minute — so  rapidly,  indeed,  as 
almost  to  produce  the  impression  of  a  continuous 
pressure.  A  battery  large  enough  to  work  the  appa- 
ratus costs  for  running  it  about  twenty  cents  a  day. 

ELECTRICITY   IN   MEDICINE. 

At  a  recent  sitting  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, M.  Scoutettensentin  a  paper  on  certain  further 
researches  of  his  for  the  purpose  of  proving  that  the 
electrical  state  of  mineral  waters  is  the  chief  cause  of 
their  activity.  He  contends  that  these  waters,  on 
issuing  from  the  earth,  are  in  a  state  of  peculiar 
activity  owing  to  certain  chemical  reactions  which 
produce  dynamic  electrical  phenomena  ;  a  fact  which 
by  no  means  impairs  the  activity  of  their  chemical 
elements  on  the  human  body. 

A  French  physician  says  that  a  shock  of  electricity 
given  to  a  patient  dying  from  the  effects  of  chloroform 
immediately  counteracts  its  influence  and  restores  the 
patient  to  life. 


216  ELECTKICITY  AND   LIFE. 

Already  employed  to  restore  vigor  and  nimbleness 
to  the  gouty  limbs  of  decrepit  bons  vivants,  the  recent 
discoveries  of  Dr.  Bernier,  a  French  physician,  show 
electricity  to  be  an  efficient  remedy  for  the  evil  effects 
of  excessive  drinking  on  the  human  nose.  The  doctor 
maintains  that,  by  the  application  of  an  electric  current 
to  noses  even  of  the  most  Bacchanalian  hue,  the  flesh 
may  be  made  "  to  come  again  as  the  flesh  of  a  little 
child;"  and  he  supports  his  assertion  by  a  case  per- 
formed on  a  female  patient  of  his  own — a  woman  of 
high  rank. 

In  connection  with  these  instances  of  the  value  of 
electricity  as  a  healer,  we  may  fitly  introduce  the 
anecdote  told  of  an  elderly  woman  who  entered  a  rail 
road  carriage  at  one  of  the  Ohio  stations,  and  dis- 
turbed the  passengers  a  good  deal  with  complaints 
about  a  "  most  dreadful  rheumatiz "  that  she  was 
troubled  with.  A  gentleman  present,  who  had  himself 
been  a  severe  sufferer  with  the  same  complaint,  said 
to  her  :  •'  Did  you  ever  try  electricity,  madam  ?  I  tried 
it,  and  in  the  course  of  a  short  time  it  cured  me.'' 
"Electricity  !"  exclaimed  the  old  lady,  "yes,  I've  tried 
it  to  my  satisfaction.  I  was  struck  by  lightning  about 
a  year  ago,  but  it  didn't  do  me  a  single  mossel  o'  good." 

ELECTRICITY   AN    "  ANTI-FAT  "    KEMEDY. 

We  do  not  vouch  for  the  accuracy  of  what  we  are 
about  to  relate,  which  records  a  remarkable  operation 
performed  by  a  Whitehall,  New  York  State,  physician. 
A  gentleman  who  had  been  suffering  from  a  super- 


ELECTRICITY  AND   LIFE.  217 

abundance  of  adipose  tissue  consulted  a  medical 
practitioner,  asking  for  relief  from  his  burden.  The 
latter  took  him  to  the  telegraph  office  at  that  place. 
The  fat  man  was  requested  to  remove  his  coat  and 
vest,  after  which  the  physician  surrounded  him  with 
wires,  attaching  the  ends  to  a  powerful  galvanic  bat- 
tery. At  a  signal  from  the  doctor,  the  manager  let  on 
the  current.  The  patient  writhed  and  twisted  when 
he  felt  the  current  passing  around  him,  but  he  stood 
it  like  a  martyr.  Presently  he  began  to  shrink ;  he 
grew  smaller  and  smaller  and  smaHer  ;  his  clothing 
hung  in  bags  about  his  fast  diminishing  form.  The 
doctor  felt  much  pleased  at  the  result  of  his  experi- 
ment, while  the  formerly  fat  man's  joy  was  very  great, 
although  he  seemed  to  be  suffering  the  worst  pain. 
All  of  a  sudden  there  was  heard  a  loud  clicking  at  the 
instrument,  as  if  Pandemonium's  great  hall  had  been 
let  loose.  The  operator  sprang  quickly  to  answer  the 
call.  He  ascertained  it  was  from  the  New  York  office, 
and  quickly  asked:  "What's  up?"  An  answer  came 
back  as  if  some  demon  was  at  the  other  end  of  the 
wire  :  "  Cut  off  your  wires  quick — you  are  filling  the 
New  York  office  with  soap  grease  1" 


218  OUTGROWTHS   OF   THE   TELEGRAPH. 


OUTGEOWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGEAPH. 

This  is  a  subject  remarkably  fertile,  because  never 
in  the  history  of  the  world  have  there  been  the  same 
incentives  to,  and,  we  may  add,  the  same  success  in 
many-sided  invention  as  now.  How  multifarious,  for 
example,  are  the  applications  of  steam  power!  But 
those  of  the  electric  telegraph  are,  perhaps,  even 
more  numerous  and  certainly  more  interesting  by 
reason  of  their  diversity  and  marvellousness.  We 
shall  cite  some  of  these,  taking  care  to  give  due 
prominence  to  the  most  important,  but  not  pretending, 
within  the  limits  yet  remaining  to  us,  to  include  the 
mention  of  every  realized  or  projected  employment  of 
electricity  in  the  industrial  arts.  The  subject  of  this 
chapter  has,  moreover,  been  more  or  less  anticipated 
under  appropriate  headings  in  the  foregoing  pages. 

THE   ELECTRIC    LIGHT. 

One  of  the  best,  if  not  the  best,  descriptions  of  the 
electric  light  is  that  given  by  Mr.  Edison  in  the 
October  number  (1880)  of  the  North  American  Review. 

EDISON'S    DESCRIPTION    OF   IT. 

Mr.  Edison  begins  the  article  with  a  few  words  to 
those  who  have  expressed  their  impatience  at  the 
delays  in  the  perfecting  of  the  electric  light.  The 
delays  which  have  occurred  to  defer  its  general  intro- 
duction are  chargeable,  he  says,  not  to  any  defects 


OUTGROWTHS   OF   THE   TELEGRAPH.  219 

since  discovered  in  the  original  theory  of  the  system 
in  its  practical  workings,  but  to  the  enormous  mass  of 
details  which  have  to  be  mastered  before  the  system 
can  go  into  operation  on  a  large  scale,  and  on  a  com- 
mercial basis  as  a  rival  of  the  existing  system  of 
lighting  by  gas.  Important  improvements  have  been 
brought  about  by  these  delays,  in  the  direction  of 
economy  and  simplification  at  almost  every  point  in 
the  system,  as  well  as  in  the  details  of  manufacturing 
the  apparatus. 

The  lamp,  the  inventor  tells  us,  has  been  completely 
transformed.  To  quote  his  own  words : 

"The  perfected  lamp  consists  of  an  oval  bulb  of 
glass  about  five  inches  in  height ;  pointed  at  one  end, 
and  with  a  short  stem  three  quarters  of  an  inch  in 
diameter  at  the  other.  Two  wires  of  platinum  enter 
the  bulb  through  this  stem,  supporting  the  loop  or 
U-shaped  thread  of  carbon,  which  is  about  two  inches 
in  height.  The  stem  is  hermetically  sealed  after  the 
introduction  of  the  carbon  loop.  At  its  pointed  end 
the  bulb  terminates  in  an  open  tube  through  which 
the  air  in  the  bulb  is  exhausted  by  means  of  a  mercury 
pump  till  not  over  one-millionth  part  remains.  The 
tube  is  then  closed.  The  outer  extremities  of  the  two 
platinum  wires  are  connected  with  the  wires  of  an 
electric  circuit,  and  at  the  base  of  a  lamp  is  a  screw 
by  which  the  circuit  is  made  or  broken  at  pleasure. 
When  the  circuit  is  made  the  resistance  offered  to  the 
passage  of  the  electric  current  by  the  carbon  causes 
the  loop  to  acquire  a  high  temperature  and  to  become 
incandescent ;  but  as  this  takes  place  in  a  vacuum,  the 
carbon  is  not  consumed.  The  '  life '  of  a  carbon  loop 
through  which  a  current  is  passed  continuously  varies 
from  seven  hundred  and  fifty  to  nine  hundred  hours. 


220          OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

With  an  intermitted  current  the  loop  has  an  equal 
duration  of  life,  and  as  the  average  time  an  artificial 
light  is  used  is  five  hours  per  day,  it  follows  that  one 
lamp  will  last  about  six  months.  Each  lamp  costs 
about  fifty  cents,  and  when  one  fails,  another  may  be 
easily  substituted  for  it." 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Edison  promises  the  speedy 
introduction  of  his  perfected  lamp.  Meanwhile  it  is 
satisfactory  to  reflect  that  in  many  places  the  public 
are  already  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  light  which  is  a 
source  of  comfort,  safety  and  beauty.  The  world  does 
not  wait  even  for  Mr.  Edison. 

THE   ELECTRIC    LIGHT    AT    NIAGARA   FALLS. 

Recent  experiments  at  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  which 
at  this  writing  take  place  once  or  twice  a  week,  give 
emphasis  to  the  possibilities  of  beauty  afforded  by  the 
electric  light.  Esthetic  people  will  be  delighted  to 
learn  that  in  these  experiments  the  fantastic  displays 
of  color  surpass  the  richest  pigments  of  the  painter. 
From  the  terrace  at  Prospect  Park  on  a  dull  night  the 
Falls  appear,  under  the  rays  of  a  red  electric  light, 
like  an  immense  and  swift-sliding  avalanche  of  purple 
lava.  In  a  moment,  by  changing  the  stained  glass  in 
front  of  the  electric  lamp,  the  Falls  are  made  to  gleam 
like  silver,  and  when  alternate  colors  are  employed, 
the  appearance  of  a  splendid  moving  rainbow  is 
presented.  The  foam  in  the  abyss  at  the  foot  of  the 
Falls  when  lit  by  the  electric  glow  shines  out  like  the 
phosphoresence  of  the  ocean  during  a  tempestuous 
night.  One  of  the  most  rare  and  striking  scenes  it  is 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         221 

possible  to  witness  is  the  sudden  illumination  of 
Niagara  by  a  flash  of  night  lightning,  and  with  the 
electric  light  it  will  be  possible  to  produce  the  effect 
artificially. 

EXPERIMENTS    IN    SAN    FRANCISCO. 

As  everybody  knows,  considerable  portions  of  prob- 
ably every  great  city  in  the  leading  countries  of  the 
world  are  now  lighted  by  electricity,  either  as  the 
result  of  private  enterprise  or  municipal  provision. 
In  this  connection  it  is  announced  that  San  Francisco 
claims  to  be  ahead  of  European  cities  in  the  quality 
of  the  lamp  used  in  lighting  some  of  her  streets.  The 
light  produced  is  said  to  be  so  brilliant  that  it  cannot 
be  looked  upon  with  the  naked  eye  without  dazzling 
and  injuring  that  delicate  and  most  sensitive  organ, 
it  being  even  less  painful  to  gaze  upon  the  sun.  One 
wonderful  feature  of  this  light  is  that  any  and  every 
color  is  easily  seen;  the  colored  threads  in  various 
fabrics,  the  bright  green  of  the  grass,  and  the  colors 
of  flowers  were  brought  out  as  distinctly  as  in  day- 
light. By  an  ingenious  device  a  light  can  be  made 
self  supplying  for  the  longest  night.  It  is  self  feeding, 
and  can  be  burned  as  long  as  desired.  Twelve  jars 
and  a  coil  are  required  for  each  light,  save  where  two 
are  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  each  other,  as 
on  either  side  of  a  hill,  when  one  set  of  jars  and  one 
coil  will  answer  for  both.  The  plan  and  ingredients 
are  kept  a  profound  secret,  but  the  inventors  claim 
that  they  can  light  the  city  for  one  hundred  thousand 


222         OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGBAPH. 

dollars  a  year,  which  is  only  one-third  the  present  cost 
of  gaslight. 

ELEOTKIO    LIGHTING   ON   AN   EXTENSIVE    SCALE. 

It  is  reported  that  a  Boston  electrical  engineer  is 
about  to  try  the  experiment  of  lighting  the  large 
manufacturing  center  of  Holyoke,  Massachusetts,  with 
the  electric  light  in  a  manner  that  will  strike  the 
present  generation  as  novel,  but  which  has  been 
essayed  before.  It  is  proposed  to  erect  a  tower 
seventy  five  feet  high  overlooking  the  town.  This  is 
to  be  surmounted  by  an  immense  lantern  of  such 
illuminating  capacity  as  to  put  all  previous  lamps  in 
the  category  of  trifles.  At  present  only  one  tower 
will  be  erected,  but  if  the  principle  should  prove  a 
success,  seven  or  eight  will  ultimately  be  built,  with  a 
view  to  render  the  city  as  light  as  day,  and  completely 
to  supersede  gas  and  kerosene.  The  idea  of  the 
inventor  of  this  daring  scheme  is  to  charge  the  upper 
strata  of  the  atmosphere  with  luminous  vibrations  in 
the  same  manner  as  is  done  by  the  sun,  and  thus  to 
produce  the  same  effect  that  is  obtained  during  the 
day  from  the  reflected,  refracted  and  diffused  light  of 
that  orb.  In  this  manner  it  is  believed  that  electric 
light  can  be  made  to  permeate  spaces  which  are  inac- 
cessible to  direct  rays  by  the  same  law  by  which 
daylight  diffuses  itself — that  is  by  virtue  of  an  expan- 
sive property  which  is  constantly  illustrated  on  the 
large  scale  of  solar  illumination,  but  has  no  place  in 
our  text-books  on  optics.  The  light  given  by  the  solar 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         223 

orb  a  few  minutes  after  sunset,  when  only  the  upper 
strata  of  the  atmosphere  are  directly  affected  by  the 
iolar  beam,  furnishes,  perhaps,  the  best  example  of 
.he  diffusion  and  expansion  that  the  engineer  pro- 
poses to  imitate  artificially.  His  plans  provide  for  an 
illuminating  power  from  each  lantern  equal  to  three 
hundred  thousand  candles,  which  is  nearly  twenty 
times  that  of  any  electric  lamp  yet  manufactured,  but 
is  not  at  all  impracticable,  as  it  involves  only  an 
increase  in  electrical  volume  and  pressure  and  a  corre- 
sponding increase  in  the  diameter  of  the  carbons. 
The  cost  of  the  tower,  lamp  and  generator  for  a  single 
light  is  estimated  at  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  irrespec- 
tive of  the  engine  power  required  to  run  the  latter. 
Magnificent  and  original  as  this  conception  seems,  it 
has  been  attempted  before,  in  the  infancy  of  electrical 
engineering,  by  a  Western  experimentalist,  who  con- 
cieved  the  idea  of  lighting  the  city  of  Cincinnati  in  a 
similar  manner,  by  placing  enormous  lights  upon  the 
high  ground  overlooking  the  town.  This  idea  was 
not  successful,  but  possibly  the  failure  was  due  to  the 
crude  electrical  engineering  of  that  day,  and  not  to 
any  inherent  difficulty. 

VARIOUS   USES   FOR    THE   ELECTRIC   LIGHT. 

In  the  usual  rush  of  business  during  the  fall  of  the 
year,  the  electric  light  is  found  to  be  of  great  value  in 
evening  and  night  work,  particularly  in  dry-goods 
establishments,  where  clear  and  intense  light — one 
better,  in  short,  than  that  produced  from  gas — is 
desirable  in  the  matching  and  selection  of  colors. 


224 


OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGBAPH 


Some  of  the  great  ocean  steamships  are  provided 
with  the  electric  light,  both  for  lighting  the  cabins  and 
steerage  and  also  as  a  means  of  preventing  collisions. 
The  light  makes  them  visible,  it  is  stated,  at  the 
distance  of  fourteen  miles.  This  provision  reminds 
us  that  Professor  Fleming  Jenkin  some  years  ago 
discovered  and  patented  a  new  method  of  lighting  the 
beacons  and  buoys  on  the  sea  coast  by  electricity, 
giving  a  bright,  permanent  and  unmistakable  light  to 
guide  the  mariner,  and  preserve  him  from  treacherous 
rocks  and  shoals.  The  light  is  produced  by  a  rapid 
succession  of  sparks,  due  to  successive  charges  and 
discharges  of  a  condenser  situated  upon  the  beacon  or 
buoy.  This  is  charged  directly  with  a  voltaic  battery, 
without  the  intervention  of  an  induction  coil.  The 
communication  is  made  by  means  of  submarine  wires 
running  from  the  shore  to  the  beacon  or  buoy,  and 
can  be  operated  thoroughly  by  persons  on  shore. 
The  invention  is  considered  in  all  respects  practicable, 
and  its  adoption  on  the  dangerous  parts  of  our  coasts 
would  undoubtedly  be  the  means  of  rendering  fewer 
the  dangers  of  the  seas. 

About  a  year  ago  a  number  of  experiments  were 
made  at  Metz  by  a  committee  of  officers  in  the  German 
army,  appointed  to  investigate  the  practicability  of 
employing  electric  light  during  siege  operations,  and 
to  suggest  any  modifications  which  it  might  seem 
expedient  to  introduce  in  the  apparatus  at  present  in 
use.  Forts  Frederic  Charles  and  Alvensleben  were 
illuminated  by  throwing  the  electric  light  upon  them, 


OUTOKOWTHS   OF   THE   TELEGRAPH.  225 

when  it  was  found  that  at  a  distance  of  from  two  to 
three  kilometers  not  only  buildings  but  also  individual 
men  could  be  plainly  made  out.  One  night  the 
electric  apparatus  was  arranged  on  the  exercising 
ground  outside  the  Chambiere  gate,  and  the  light 
directed  upon  a  row  of  targets.  Fire  was  then  opened 
against  these  latter  by  a  squad  of  riflemen,  and  the 
practice  made  was  nearly  as  good  as  that  recorded  on 
ordinary  occasions  when  firing  by  day — a  result  which 
was  considered  exceedingly  satisfactory,  as  a  thick 
mist  prevailed  at  the  time,  and  materially  interfered 
with  the  action  of  the  light.  Altogether,  the  com- 
mittee concluded  that  the  electric  light  may  in  future 
be  employed  with  advantage  not  only  in  siege  opera- 
tions but  also  during  outpost  duty  and  engagements 
at  night. 

Here  we  must  leave  the  electric  light,  and  devote 
some  space  to 

THE  TELEPHONE. 

This  instrument  is  constructed  on  the  principle  of 
the  human  ear.  It  consists  of  an  elastic  diaphragm, 
to  receive  vibrations  of  air  from  the  human  voice  or 
from  other  sources,  so  connected  with  the  wires  of  a 
battery  (or  even  with  wires  without  a  battery)  as  to 
communicate  the  same  vibrations  in  every  respect  to 
another  membrane  or  diaphragm  situated  at  a  dis- 
tance. The  two  diaphragms  of  a  telephone  in  distant 
places  correspond,  in  every  practical  sense,  to  the 
two  membranes  of  the  human  ear,  and  the  connecting 


226         OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

wire  to  the  chain  of  bones  between  the  two  membranes. 
Probably  no  invention  has  come  more  rapidly  into 
popular  favor.  "It  is  employed  as  a  means  of  com- 
munication between  counting  room  and  factory, 
merchant's  residence  and  the  office,  publishing  house 
and  printing  office,  and,  in  short,  wherever  oral  com- 
munication is  desired  between  persons  separated  by 
any  distance  beyond  the  ordinary  reach  of  the  human 
voice." 

THE    GERMAN   NAME   FOR    THE    TELEPHONE. 

In  Germany  they  call  the  telephone  "  Farnsprecher," 
signifying  far  speaker.  The  adoption  of  so  short  a 
name,  says  the  Scientific  American,  is  a  matter  of  con- 
gratulation, because  the  Germans  might  easily  have 
found  a  way  of  smothering  the  telephone  under  some 
frightfully  polysyllabic  title.  To  show  how  closely 
the  fortunate  instrument  has  escaped  this  fate,  a 
correspondent  in  Heidelberg  writes  that  no  less  than 
fifty-four  names  were  proposed  in  German,  all  of 
varying  degrees  of  atrocity.  Some  (we  will  not  inflict 
the  reader  with  the  original  titles)  signified  "  mile 
tongue,"  "  kilometer  tongue,"  "  speaking  post,"  "  word 
lightning,"  "  world  trumpet,"  and  finally  one  inventor, 
collecting  all  his  energies  for  a  grand  effort,  trium- 
phantly produced  "  doppelstahlblechzungensprecher." 
The  jaw  can  be  replaced  by  pressing  on  the  lower 
molars  with  the  fingers,  and  guiding  the  muscles  with 
the  thumbs. 

THE  INVENTOR  OF  THE  TELEPHONE. 

Various  accounts,  as  is  usual,  have  been  given  of  the 
invention  of  the  telephone.  An  article  in  a  Decent 


OUTGKOWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGBAPH.  227 

number  of  the  Pekin  Gazette,  written  by  one  Chin  Hoo, 
says  that  Rung  Foo  Whing,  a  distinguished  phi- 
losopher who  flourished  about  the  year  976,  invented 
the  telephone — which  is  known  in  China  as  "Thumth- 
sein" — in  the  year  968.  It  is  said  that  two  hundred 
and  ten  years  ago  a  book  was  published  in  England, 
in  which  the  author  affirmed  that  "  it  was  not  impos- 
sible to  hear  a  whisper  at  a  furlong's  distance,  it  having 
been  already  done,"  and  that  he  assured  the  reader  that 
he  had,  "  by  the  help  of  a  distended  wire,  propagated 
sound  to  a  veiy  considerable  distance."  The  Buffalo 
Sentinel,  dated  September  10,  1853,  contained  the 
following  item :  "  An  English  paper,  the  Plymouth 
Journal,  announces  the  discovery  of  a  means  of  trans- 
mitting sounds  to  a  great  distance  through  the 
medium  of  water.  The  instrument  by  which  this  is 
done  is  called  by  its  inventor  a  '  telephon '  or  sound- 
carrier."  These  various  announcements  manifestly 
do  not  discredit  the  statement  made  by  Mi'.  W.  F. 
Barrett,  that  the  inventor  of  the  electric  telephone  was 
Mr.  John  Cammack.  This  gentleman  says  that  as 
early  as  1860  Mr.  Cammack,  while  a  student  in  the 
Royal  School  of  Medicine,  Manchester,  made  and 
jxhibited  a  telephone  containing  not  only  the  inter- 
mittent current  introducd  by  Philip  Reiss,  of  Hamburg, 
in  1861,  but  the  principle  of  continuous  current  of 
varying  strength  used  still  more  recently  by  Mr. 
Edison  and  Professor  Graham  Bell.  There  is  no 
3vidence,  however,  that  Mr.  Cammack  had  carried  out 
'iis  idea  practically  like  Bell.  But  what  becomes  of 
che  claim  for  Mr.  Cammack  if  it  be  true  that  old 


228          OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

journals  have  been  found  containing  an  account  of  a 
new  musical  instrument  invented  by  M.  Petrina,  of 
Prague,  who  is  stated  to  have  constructed  "  an 
instrument  with  keys  which  by  a  galvanic  current 
sets  a  small  iron  plate  into  vibration  as  soon  as  the 
hand  leaves  the  key  ?  Each  key  produces  a  different 
tone,  and  the  tuning  and  vise  are  simila**  to  that  of  a 
pianoforte.  A  second  instrument  put  at  a  considerable 
distance  is  connected  with  the  other  in  such  a  way 
that  the  music  played  on  the  one  resounds  from  the 
other."  This  appears  to  have  been  a  musical  tele- 
phone put  in  practical  form  long  before  any  now 
known. 

A   TELEPHONE    SERVICE   METER. 

At  the  telephone  convention  recently  held  at 
Niagara  Falls,  a  telephone  service  meter  was  exhibited, 
the  invention  of  Mr.  H.  L.  Bailey,  of  New  York, 
whereby  the  time  that  each  subscriber  uses  the  tele- 
phone, as  well  as  the  number  of  times  it  is  in  use,  can 
be  registered  by  clockwork.  If  this  device  realizes 
the  expectations  of  its  inventor,  it  is  probable  that 
instead  of  the  one  at  present  in  use,  a  toll  system  will 
be  generally  adopted,  each  subscriber  paying  a 
nominal  amount  as  rent  for  the  telephone,  and  so 
much  for  every  time  he  uses  the  instrument,  which 
would  doubtless  prove  more  satisfactory  both  to  the 
company  and  to  the  public. 

SERMONS    BY    TELEPHONE. 

When  the  telephone  was  first  introduced  it  was 
laughingly  said  that  people  need  not  go  to  church* 


OUTGROWTHS   OF    THE    TELEGRAPH.  229 

but  could  sit  in  their  own  houses  and  have  the  sermon 
and  the  services  waited  to  them  telephonically.  This 
was  done  for  the  first  time,  we  believe,  at  Lowell, 
Massachusetts.  Twelve  persons  visited  the  central 
telephone  office  one  Sunday  morning,  on  the  invitation 
of  Manager  Glidden.  Tne  office  was  counected  by 
telephone  with  the  Freewill  Baptist  Church,  an 
instrument  being  arranged  out  of  sight  behind  the 
pulpit.  The  organ  voluntary  rang  out  clear  and 
sweet  upon  the  ears  of  the  telephone  listeners,  and  the 
reading  and  praying — even  when  spoken  in  a  whisper 
— were  distinguished  word  for  word.  Then  came  the 
voice  of  the  minister — "We  will  sing  the  428th  hymn, 
omitting  the  third  verse,"  and  after  a  brief  interlude 
by  the  organist,  the  voices  of  the  congregation  were 
heard  in  pleasing  melody.  After  reading  a  number  of 
notices  the  text  was  announced  as  a  portion  of  Mat- 
thew 16:  3  :  "But  can  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the 
times?"  It  was  a  discourse  written  evidently  for  the 
occasion,  and  went  to  establish  the  truth  of  the 
assertion  that  "  science  ever  has  been  and  must  be  the 
safeguard  of  religion."  What  science  had  already 
Accomplished  for  the  world  and  what  religion  owed  to 
it  *yere  dwelt  upon  with  much  force.  Before  con- 
cluding, the  minister  spoke  of  some  of  the  wonderful 
inventions  of  the  day,  and  made  special  reference  to 
the  phonograph  and  telephone.  During  the  discourse 
there  was  the  least  possible  difficulty  in  distinguishing 
the  remarks  of  the  preacher  when  his  earnestness  in 
his  subject  impelled  him  to  emphatic  sentences.  The 


230         OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

moderate  tones  were  all  plainly  heard,  as  were  also  the 
concluding  organ  selection  as  the  congregation  passed 
out,  and  the  muffled  monotonous  tones  of  the  retiring 
worshippers. 

The  second  experiment  of  transmitting  a  sermon  by 
our  most  noted  preacher,  created  a  greater  stir. 
Listeners  were  not  slow  to  appreciate  the  novel 
advantage  of  listening  to  a  sermon  preached  by 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  without  the  necessity  of  crowd- 
ing into  his  church. 

Owing,  says  a  reporter  on  the  New  York  Press,  to 
the  necessity  for  concealing  the  transmitters  from 
the  congregation,  as  well  as  to  the  drawback  of  hav- 
ing but  one  wire,  the  sound  was  not  at  all  times 
distinct,  but  was  interrupted  by  inquiries  from  vari- 
ous points  on  the  circuit.  Whenever  the  preacher 
thumped  his  Bible  there  was  a  whiz  and  whirr  that 
was  anything  but  solemn.  The  music  of  the  choir 
of  the  congregation  and  the  soloist  were  heard 
plainly  all  over  the  circuit.  The  sermons  were 
rather  disconnected,  from  the  fact  that  the  listeners 
at  the  instruments  were  constantly  changing,  and 
occasionally  the  wires  would  get  crossed  or  the  plugs 
pulled  out,  so  that  the  discourse  would  get  mixed 
with  messages.  The  morning  sermon  ran  something 
like  this: 

"What  can  be  more  pitiful  (Hallo!  hallo!)  than 
the  spectacle  recently  presented  at  West  Point? 
(Hallo!  Chin — referring  to  Mr.  Chinnock,  the  elec- 
trician— don't  cut  me  off.)  How  is  the  young  man 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         231 

treated?  (There,  you've  cut  me  off  again.)  He  was 
ostracised  by  his  comrades.  (Hallo!  Beach!  Hallo!) 
Insults  were  showered  upon  him.  (Put  that  plug  in 
a  little  tighter.)  He  works  his  way  onward.  But 
the  detestable  prejudice  of  those  who  should  have 
been  his  comrades  and  associates  (Stop  calling  and 
listen,  will  you1?)  single  him  out  (Brown,  be  quiet) 
for  persecution,  and  the  brutal  (whrr-r-r-r-r! — caused 
by  the  preacher  pounding  the  table),  cowardly  out- 
rage (here  a  sound  like  the  clashing  of  cymbals),  with 
accounts  of  which  the  newspapers  have  been  teeming 
for  a  week,  is  committed  upon  him." 

As  soon  as  all  the  listeners  got  quiet,  however,  the 
sermon  was  heard  with  distinctness,  and  when  the 
number  of  listeners  on  the  circuit  was  decreased,  the 
sound  became  much  more  distinct  than  when  the 
circuit  was  open  for  all.  Mr.  Chinnock  said  that  with  , 
a  separate  transmitter  and  a  separate  wire  there 
would  be  no  trouble  whatever  in  hearing  the  whole 
of  any  service  without  interruption.  The  peculiar 
tone  and  accent  of  the  preacher  were  easily  recog- 
nizable, and  the  sermon  might  have  been  heard  by 
any  one  of  the  thirty-five  hundred  people  in  com- 
munication with  the  telephone  exchange.  Mr.  Chin- 
nock  says  that  it  would  be  possible  for  a  preacher 
to  stay  at  home  and  preach  his  sermon  to  a  congre- 
gation of  ten  thousand  at  their  homes. 

USES    OF    THE    TELEPHONE. 

The  telephone  promises  to  be  of  extensive  use  in 


232  OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

very  diverse  ways.  By  means  of  it,  music  played  in 
France  has  been  distinctly  heard  in  England. 

The  telephone  is  being  rapidly  introduced  into  the 
various  military  establishments,  not  only  in  the  capi- 
tal and  its  neighborhood,  but  also  everywhere  in 
Germany. 

The  young  Spanish  king,  now  a  happy  father,  being 
separated  from  his  bride  by  the  I'igid  court  etiquette 
and  public  affairs  for  several  day;"  each  week,  had  his 
private  apartments  connected  with  her  palace  by  a 
telephone,  through  which  the  royal  lovers  communi- 
cated without  interference  or  annoyance. 

The  telephone  has  lately  been  successfully  used  in 
France  to  communicate  between  a  vessel  being  towed 
and  one  towing.  The  wire  was  carried  along  one  of 
the  hawsers,  and  the  circuit  completed  through  the 
•copper  on  the  bottoms  of  the  ships  and  the  water. 
Conversation  was  carried  on  very  distinctly. 

Its  aid  has  been  secured  in  Jersey  City  in  connec- 
tion with  the  courts.  A  telegraph  wire  has  been  con- 
structed from  the  Hudson  County  Court  House  to 
the  telegraph  office  in  Montgomery  Street,  and  a 
telephone  attached  to  each  end,  whereby  lawyers  can 
communicate  with  each  other  rapidly  or  between  their 
offices  and  the  court  house. 

HUMORS   OF    THE    TELEPHONE. 

A  correspondent  thinks  that  the  telephone  will 
soon  be  utilized  on  freight  trains,  so  that  the  con- 
ductor can  sit  by  the  stove  in  the  caboose  and  swear 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         233 

at  the  brakeinan,  instead  of  having  to  go  out  on  the 
top  of  the  cars  in  the  cold  to  do  it. 

Mr.  Basingbal  (city  merchant) — "Most  convenient! 
I  can  converse  w*th  Mrs.  B.  just  as  if  I  was  in  my 
own  drawing-room.  I'll  tell  her  you  are  here." 
(Speaks  through  the  telephone.)  "  Dawdles  is  here 
— just  come  from  Paris — looking  so  well — desires  to 
be,"  etc.,  etc.  "  Now  you  take  it,  and  you'll  hear  her 
voice  distinctly."  Dawdles — "Weally!"  (Dawdles 
takes  it.)  The  voice — "  For  goodness'  sake,  dear, 
don't  bring  that  insufferable  noodle  home  to  dinner!" 

The  following  advertisement  appeared  in  the  New 
York  Herald  "  Personal "  column  at  the  time  that  the 
telephone  was  first  introduced  in  New  York: 

"A  chance  to  be  married  by  the  Bell  speaking  telephone 
will  be  given  to  a  limited  number  of  couples  during  the  latter 
part  of  this  month.  No  charges  will  be  made;  satisfactory 
references  required.  Applicants  should  address  box  229,  Herald 


The  ceremony  did  not,  however,  for  some  reason 
or  other,  take  place,  although  a  marriage  by  tele 
phone  would  seem  to  be  fully  as  appropriate  and 
practicable,  so  to  speak,  as  one  by  telegraph. 

Magnet  writes :  "  I  had  often  read  of  the  singing- 
telephone;  but  I  shall  never  forget  the  first  time  I 
heard  one.  I  was  night  operator  at  a  small  railroad 
station.  Along  about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
while  I  was  lying  on  a  table,  I  heard  that  which 
seemed  to  me  as  some  one  humming  the  tune  of 


234  OUTGROWTHS   OF    THE    TELEGBAPH. 

"  Hold  the  Fort."  As  no  one  was  around  the  depot 
at  that  unusual  hour  of  the  morning,  I  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  not  coming  from  human  lips. 
So  I  got  up  and  went  outside  of  the  office  and  list- 
ened. As  I  could  hear  nothing,  I  went  back  in  the 
office,  and  could  still  hear  the  singing,  though  it  soon 
ceased.  After  waiting  a  few  moments  it  commenced 
again.  This  time  it  was  "  Sweet  Bye  and  Bye." 
After  searching  inside  and  out  of  the  office,  I  could 
not  tell  where  the  sound  came  from,  and,  as  I  am  not 
the  bravest  man  in  the  world,  I  will  confess  that  I 
began  to  think  of  sprites  singing  in  the  air.  At  that 
instant  the  armature  of  the  relay  on  a  local  wire 
rattled  tremendously,  and  made  a  very  strange,  loud 
noise.  I  rushed  over  to  it,  and,  to  my  horror,  the 
instrument  was  singing!  Kind  reader,  imagine  my 
feeling  at  a  lonesome  station,  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and,  to  my  knowledge,  there  had  been  four 
men  killed  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  office,  and 
the  instrument  singing  hymns!  It  was  more  than  I 
could  stand.  I  rushed  out  of  the  office,  intending  to 
make  a  home  run,  when  it  flashed  across  my  mind  that 
it  was  the  singing  telephone." 

In  Pine  Bluff  there  is  a  prominent  man.  There  are 
many  prominent  men  in  Pine  Bluff,  but  this  one  is  so 
very  prominent  in  a  certain  direction  that  his  name  is 
known  along  the  crowded  street  and  out  in  the  fur- 
rowed globe.  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  call  him 
Colonel  C.  A  man  of  striking  intelligence  and  profound 
reading,  he  has  taken  up  a  financial  hobby.  He  knows 


OUTGROWTHS  OP  THE  TELEGRAPH.         235 

so  well  that  the  United  States  government  should 
adopt  his  theory  that  he  would  be  willing  to  bet  his 
eternal  existence  on  it  He'll  stop  a  man  on  the 
street  and  hammer  him  with  argument,  belabor  him 
with  deep-set  expressions,  and  kick  him  with  "im- 
portant information  "  for  hours.  One  day  the  Colonel 
went  into  M.  L.  Jones'  office,  and  had  just  begun  to 
draw  himself  up  for  a  three-hours'  speech,  when  Mr. 
Jones  remarked: 

"By  the  way,  colonel,  have  you  ever  seen  the  tele- 
phone work?" 

"  No ;  and  I  don't  believe  you  can  hear  any  better 
through  that  thing  than  you  can  through  a  cow's 
horn." 

"  I've  got  one  here  connected  with  Colonel  Grace's 
office,  and  if  you'll  just  put  your  ear  here  I'll  show 
you.  I'll  do  the  talking — you  listen." 

The  parties  took  position,  Colonel  C.  incredulously, 
and  Mr.  Jones  called: 

"  Colonel  Grace,  are  you  there  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  is  that  you,  Jones  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  how  do  you  feel  ?  " 

"  I'm  about  worn  out.  That  —  man  C.  has  been 
around  here  this  morning  boring  me  to  death  with 
his  financial  business.  I  guess  I'll  get  rested  though 
after  a  while." 

Colonel  C.  took  his  ear  away  and  remarked: 

"  If  he'd  only  listened  to  me  he  would  have  been 
smarter  in  ten  minutes  more  than  he  ever  was  before 
in  his  life." 


236         OUTGROWTHS  OP  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

Mr.  Armstrong,  superintendent  of  the  Suburban  Tele- 
graph Company  of  Cincinnati,  was  on  a  visit  to  Chicago 
at  the  time  that  the  musical  telephone  first  began  to 
attract  attention.  On  his  return  he  reported  that  he 
had  made  arrangements  to  test  the  telephone  between 
the  two  cities.  The  music  of  a  brass  band  at  Chicago 
was  to  be  transmitted  over  the  wires  and  distinctly 
heard  in  Cincinnati.  Out  of  courtesy  to  the  newspaper 
fraternity,  it  was  announced  that  none  but  members 
of  that  profession  would  be  admitted  to  the  first  trial. 
When  the  time  came  thirty  newspaper  men  were  present, 
pencils  and  all.  It  took  Mr.  Armstrong  some  time  to 
adjust  things  properly,  but  finally  sweet  sounds  were 
heard.  Musical  critics,  reporters  and  editors  placed 
their  ears  close  and  could  not  conceal  their  joy.  "I 
hear  the  telephone  whir, "  said  one ;  another  threw  his 
hat  in  the  air  with  delight,  while  the  remainder  fell  upon 
each  other's  necks  to  weep.  Presently  one  of  the  party 
said  he  could  distinguish  the  French  horn  from  the 
bass  drum,  another  thought  the  man  playing  the  trom- 
bone was  blowing  too  hard  to  make  artistic  music,  an- 
other could  count  just  sixteen  pieces  in  the  band  while 
still  another  counted  seventeen.  Everybody  listened 
and  drank  in  the  delicious  strains.  Finally  the  music 
abruptly  stopped.  As  they  all  wanted  to  examine  the 
telephone  to  its  bitter  end,  Mr.  Armstrong  lifted  the 
top  of  the  relay  box  and  disclosed  a  little  Swiss  music 
box,  which  on  being  wound  up  struck  up :  "A  Life  on 
the  Ocean  Wave,  A  Home  on  the  Rolling  Deep."  The 
faces  of  the  astute  newspaper  men  very  visibly  length- 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         237 

ened  as  they  contemplated  what  a  complete  sell  had 
been  perpetrated  upon  them.  It  is  presumed  that  Mr. 
Armstrong  properly  appreciated  the  fun.  He  had  just 
graduated  in  the  same  school  at  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Summers  at  Chicago  a  few  days  before.  Some  of  the 
reporters  felt  quite  blue  over  the  sell,  as  a  number  of 
them  had  been  studying  scientific  works  on  the  trans- 
mission of  sound  for  weeks,  and  had  several  columns 
of  introduction  in  advance,  which  was  already  in  type. 

THE    PHOTOPHONE. 

One  of  the  latest  marvels  in  applied  science  is  the 
discovery  by  Professor  A.  Graham  Bell  and  Sumner 
Taintor  of  Watertown  that  "  sounds  can  be  produced  by 
the  action  of  a  variable  light  from  substances  of  all  kinds, 
when  in  the  form  of  thin  diaphragms."  In  other  words, 
a  ray  of  light  is  substituted  for  the  connecting  wire, 
and  sounds  at  one  station  are  reproduced  at  another. 
As  is  well  known  the  action  of  the  telephone  is  due  to 
variations  in  an  electric  current,  caused  by  a  diaphragm 
set  in  vibration  by  the  voice,  the  current  thus  modified 
reproducing  its  variations  on  a  sensitive  diaphragm  at 
the  other  end  of  the  circuit.  In  the  "photophone," 
as  the  new  invention  is  called,  the  changes  in  the  elec- 
tric current  are  made  during  its  passage  through  selen- 
ium, a  substance  heretofore  known  only  as  a  chemical 
curiosity,  but  with  the  strange  property  of  conducting 
electricity  more  easily  when  exposed  to  light  than  when 
in  the  dark.  A  steady  light  allows  a  current  to  pass 
through  an  even  resistance ;  a  varied  light  varies  the 


238  OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGKAPH. 

resistance,  so  that  the  current  is  stronger  or  weaker 
after  passing  through  the  selenium,  and  its  variation  are 
easily  turned,  in  a  telephone,  into  vibrations  of  sound. 
Professor  Bell  and  Mr.  Taintor  have  already  spoken 
between  points  about  600  feet  apart,  and  they  believe 
that  the  result  can  be  obtained  as  far  as  a  beam  of 
light  can  be  flashed.  The  simplest  apparatus  of  many 
devised  consists  of  a  plane  mirror  of  flexible  material, 
as  silver  microscope  glass  or  mica,  which  will  quiver 
with  vibrations  of  sound.  On  this  is  gathered  through 
a  lens  a  beam  of  light  from  any  source,  success  having 
been  found  with  a  kerosene  or  candle  flame.  The  par- 
allee  beam  reflected  from  the  plane  mirror  is  thrown 
to  a  distant  concave  mirror  and  focussed  on  a 
piece  of  selenium,  electrically  connected  with  a  tele- 
phone. The  voice  throws  the  plane  mirror  into  vibra- 
tions which  modify  in  intensity  the  ray  of  light,  which 
rapidly  changes  the  resistance  of  the  distant  selenium, 
this  varying  the  electric  current  in  the  telephone  as 
the  voice  now  does  directly.  Another  means  of  affec- 
ting the  beam  of  light  is  by  a  disk,  preforated  with 
slits,  which  is  rapidly  turned,  producing  in  the  selenium 
a  continuous  musical  tone,  whose  pitch  varies  with  the 
rapidity  of  the  disk's  rotation,  a  silent  motion  thus 
producing-  a  sound.  A  strange  thing  is  that  some  sub- 
stances placed  in  the  beam  of  light  do  not  cut  off  the 
sound.  A  sheet  of  hard  rubber,  for  instance,  made  the 
beam  invisible,  but  the  musical  note  was  still  heard. 
Other  experiments  suggest  the  possibility  of  doing 
entirely  without  the  electric  current  in  the  telephone 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         269 

at  the  receiving  station.  Many  other  substances 
were  substituted  for  selenium,  the  affected  ray  of 
light  focussed  upon  them,  and  the  musical  note  was 
heard  without  the  aid  of  a  telephone  or  battery.  Only 
carbon  and  thin  glass  failed  to  give  a  sound. 

HATCHING   BY   ELECTRICITY. 

Silk-worms  hatched  by  electricity  are  now  being 
reared  in  Italy.  The  same  method  is  also  applied  to 
hens'  eggs,  and  to  hastening  the  germination  of  seeds. 

THEATRICAL    THUNDER. 

Ail  enterprising  citizen  of  Chicago  has  invented  a 
process  by  which  real  genuine  thunder  and  lightning 
can  be  produced  by  means  of  an  electric  battery. 
The  new  theory  in  theatrical  thunder  is  soon  to  be 
tried,  and  the  effect  produced  is  said  to  be  startling. 

TOOTHACHE  CURED  BY  ELECTRICITY. 

Dr.  Bouchard,  of  Paris,  says  that  the  toothache 
may  be  almost  instantly  arrested  by  a  constant  bat- 
tery current  from  ten  cells.  The  positive  pole  is 
placed  against  the  jaw,  on  a  level  with  the  painful 
tooth,  and  the  negative  pole  to  the  antero-lateral 
region,  on  the  same  side  of  the  neck. 

A    SUGGESTION. 

There  are  contrivances  for  turning  gas  on  and  off 
by  electricity,  lighting  any  number  of  burners  at  the 
same  instant  of  time.  By  connecting  this  with  the 


240  OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGBAPH. 

burglar-alarm  telegraph,  the  opening  of  a  door  or 
window  would  set  the  bells  ringing  and  light  all  the 
burners  in  the  house  at  the  same  instant. 

ELECTRICITY    AS    A    WATEB-SHED. 

A  Frenchman  has  discovered  that  electricity  applied 
to  a  certain  small  apparatus  repels  rain.  He  places  the 
electrical  apparatus  in  his  cane,  which  he  holds  above 
his  head,  when  the  rain  pours  off  in  all  directions. 
The  people  of  the  town  in  which  he  lives  gaze  upon 
him,  it  is  said,  with  a  sort  of  awe,  as  he  walks  in  the 
midst  of  rain  without  being  wet. 

TAMING   HORSES    BY   ELECTRICITY 

An  English  journal  says:  "Mr.  George  Laycock, 
farmer,  of  Whittington,  near  Sheffield,  was  convicted 
in  the  penalty  of  forty  shillings  and  costs,  by  the 
Sheffield  stipendary  magistrate,  for  cruelty  to  a  mare, 
which  he  was  taming  by  electricity  at  a  public  sport- 
ing ground.  Horse-taming  by  electricity  in  Yorkshire 
has,  it  is  said,  been  freely  practiced  of  late,  and  the 
prosecution  therefore  excited  considerable  interest." 

ELECTRICITY   AND    RELIGION. 

At  ths  Moody  and  Sankey  meetings  in  New  York, 
the  several  halls  of  the  Hippodrome  were  connected 
by  telegraph,  and  when  the  director,  sitting  on  the 
platform  immediately  behind  Mr.  Moody,  wished  the 
gas  turned  on,  the  doors  or  ventilators  opened  or 
closed,  or  the  like,  he  did  it  by  that  agency.  Small 


OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH.  241 

electric  bells  were  also  arranged  around  the  building, 
on  which  orders  to  the  door-keepers,  ushers,  etc., 
were  given.  Everything  worked  like  clock-work. 

ELECTRICAL    AIR   AS   A    TRANSMITTER. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  telegraphic  messages 
could  be  transmitted  without  the  use  of  wires,  and 
many  years  since  signals  were  sent  across  the  Bristol 
Channel  by  the  use  of  the  water  as  the  conducting 
medium;  but  in  that  case  the  water  through  which 
the  signals  passed  was  inclosed  in  a  tube,  so  that  it 
was,  in  truth,  only  the  substitution  of  a  wire  of  water, 
if  the  term  can  be  used,  for  the  metallic  wire  usually 
employed.  Professor  Loomis  now  proposes  to  go 
further;  he  claims  to  have  discovered  a  mode  of 
transmitting  messages  by  electrical  air  currents,  and 
is  seeking  an  opportunity  for  making  experiments  on 
the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc. 

MAPS  BY  TELEGRAPH. 

A  member  of  the  Parisian  Academy  of  Science  has 
devised  a  method  whereby  exact  maps  and  diagrams 
may  be  transmitted  by  telegraph.  A  numerally- 
graduated  semi-circular  plate  of  glass  is  laid  by  the 
telegrapher  over  the  map  to-be  transmitted,  and  a 
pencil  of  mica,  attached  to  a  pivoted  strip  of  metal, 
also  divided  into  numbers,  allowed  to  move  over  the 
plate.  Looking  through  a  fixed  eye-piece,  the  opera- 
tor traces  out  his  map  on  the  glass  with  the  adjustable 
mica  pencil,  and,  noticing  the  numbers  succes- 


242         OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

sively  touched  on  the  plate  and  on  the  moving  metal 
arm,  telegraphs  them  to  his  correspondent,  who,  by 
means  of  an  exactly  similar  apparatus,  is  thereby 
enabled  to  trace  out  an  exactly  similar  map. 

MAGNETIC    MAGIC    WRITING. 

In  Bristol,  Professor  Thompson  recently  made  an 
interesting  experiment,  which  can  be  used  as  a  secret 
or  magic  writer,  and  reminds  us  of  the  magic  inks 
which  appear  by  heat  and  disappear  again  by  cooling. 
He  took  a  very  thin  sheet  of  hardened  steel,  and 
made  invisible  letters  on  it  by  means  of  the  point  of 
an  iron  bar  strongly  magnetized  by  means  of  a  sur- 
rounding coil  and  battery;  he  found  that  all  the 
places  touched  had  become  permanently  magnetic  to 
such  a  degree  that  when  fine  iron-filings  were  placed 
upon  it,  and  then  the  plate  turned  over  to  make  them 
fall  off  again,  the  iron-filings  remained  on  the  spot 
touched  with  the  magnet,  and  thus  made  the  writing 
visible.  The  writing  may  be  rubbed  out  by  brushing 
the  filings  away,  but  reappears  any  time  afterward 
when  the  filings  are  again  applied. 

ELECTRIC    DRIVING   POWER. 

The  New  York  correspondent  of  the  Boston  Journal 
describes  a  new  invention  for  displacing  steam  by 
electricity,  and  says  that  lathes,  planing  machines, 
and  other  mechanical  arrangements  are  driven  by  this 
power.  To  run  an  engine  of  twenty-horse  power  by 
this  invention  would  require  only  a  space  of  three 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         243 

feet  long  two  feet  wide  and  two  feet  high.  The  cost 
per  day  would  be  thirty-five  cents.  On  a  steamship 
no  coal  would  be  required,  and  the  space  now  used 
for  coal  and  machinery  could  be  used  for  cargo.  The 
stubborn  resistance  of  electricity  to  mechanical  use 
heretofore  has,  it  is  believed,  been  overcome.  A  con- 
tinuous battery  has  been  secured,  and  other  difficul- 
ties removed,  principally  through  the  coil  of  the 
magnet.  If  the  invention  works  as  well  on  a  large 
scale  as  it  does  on  the  machinery  to  which  it  is  now 
applied,  steamships  will  soon  ply  the  ocean  under 
the  new  propelling  power.  The  whole  thing,  mighty 
enough  to  carry  a  Cunarder  to  Liverpool,  can,  he 
adds,  be  secured  in  a  small  trunk. 

ELECTRICITY   IN    MANAGING    REFRACTORY    HORSES. 

The  French  papers  tell  of  a  wonderful  invention 
which  will  enable  the  feeblest  among  us  to  "  witch 
the  world  with  noble  coachmanship."  The  horse  of 
the  future  is  not  to  be  driven  by  ordinary  reins,  but 
by  electricity  combined  with  them.  The  coachman  is 
to  have  under  his  seat  an  electro-magnetic  apparatus, 
which  he  works  by  means  of  a  little  handle.  One 
wire  is  carried  through  the  rein  to  the  bit,  and 
another  to  the  crupper,  so  that  a  current  once  set  up 
goes  the  entire  length  of  the  animal  along  the  spine. 
A  sudden  shock  will,  we  are  gravely  assured,  stop  the 
most  violent  runaway  or  the  most  obstinate  jibber. 
The  creature,  however  strong  and  however  vicious,  is 
"  at  once  transformed  into  a  sort  of  inoffensive  horse 


244  OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

of  wood,  with  the  feet  firmly  nailed  to  the  ground." 
Curiously  enough,  the  very  opposite  result  may  be 
produced  by  a  succession  of  small  shocks.  Under 
the  influence  of  these  the  veriest  screw  can  be  sud- 
denly endowed  with  a  vigor  and  fire  indescribable, 
and  even  the  Eosinante  of  Don  Quixote  would  gal- 
lop like  a  racer.  What  is  the  effect  upon  the  condi- 
tion of  the  horse  is  not  stated,  but  the  Siecle  finds 
itself  able  to  congratulate  M.  Fancher  upon  "an 
invention  equally  original  and  salutary,"  and  one 
which  places  in  the  hands  even  of  an  infant  a  power 
over  the  horse  which  is  as  sovereign  as  it  is  invisible- 

ENGRAVING   BY   ELECTRICITY. 

A  novel  apparatus  for  engraving  by  electricity  was 
exhibited  in  the  machinery  department  of  the  French 
exhibition.  A  metal  plate,  with  some  object  drawn 
upon  it  with  a  special  ink,  is  slowly  rotated  with  its 
face  vertical;  and  several  other  similar  plates,  but  of 
decreasing  smallness  and  with  correspondingly  dimin- 
ished speed,  are  also  slowly  rotated  by  appropriate 
mechanism.  On  these  plates  it  is  intended  the  object 
delineated  on  the  first  plate  shall  be  engraved  on 
different  scales  of  magnitude;  and  this  is  accom- 
plished by  applying  a  diamond  cutting-point  to  the 
face  of  each  plate,  which  is  pressed  against  it  through 
the  agency  of  an  electrical  current  whenever  a  blunt 
point  presented  to  the  first  plate  encounters  the  ink, 
but  is  withdrawn  at  other  times.  The  point  presented 
to  the  first  plate  is  a  "  feeler,"  which  determines  by 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         245 

electrical  agency  whether  there  is  ink  beneath  it  or 
not.  If  there  is,  the  diamond  points  opposite  to 
all  the  other  plates  are  pressed  in,  and  if  there  is  not, 
they  are  withdrawn  and  prevented  from  cutting. 
The  "  feeler  "  and  the  diamond  burins  must  all  follow 
a  spiral  track. 

DIAGRAMS   OF    TARGETS   OVER    THE  WIRE. 

This  feat,  which  at  first  sight  seems  an  almost 
incredible  one,  looks  more  simple  when  it  is  sug- 
gested that  there  be  prepared  in  the  editorial  sanc- 
tum, beforehand,  two  similar  sheets,  each  the  size  of 
the  targets  to  be  used  and  ruled  very  closely  in  two 
directions,  so  that  the  lines  intersect.  Then  number 
every  line  on  the  margin.  The  reporter  uses  one 
sheet,  and  by  saturating  it  with  oil  it  will,  if  thin, 
become  sufficiently  transparent  to  enable  him  to  trace 
with  lead  pencil  the  marks  on  the  targets.  What 
easier  then  than  to  send  by  telegraph  the  intersec 
tions,  which  may  be  made  frequent  enough  to  locate 
so  closely  as  to  answer  all  practical  purposes  ? 

ELECTRIC  COMBS  AND  BRUSHES. 

In  an  old  number  of  the  Scientific  American  we  find 
the  following,  which  is  interesting  inasmuch  as  the 
suggestion  it  makes  has  been  acted  upon  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  hair-brush  now  freely  advertised. 

"The  manufacture  and  sale  of  hair  restoratives  has 
always  been  a  favorite  with  a  certain  class  of  public 
benefactors,  whose  disinterested  labors  have  resulted 


246  OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

in  the  foundation  of  many  a  fortune.  "We  lately  came 
across  the  specifications  of  an  old  English  patent 
which  will,  perhaps,  be  interesting  at  a  time  like  the 
present,  when  alcohol  and  bear's  grease  command  such 
fabulous  prices. 

"  This  patent  was  for  '  an  apparatus  for  improving 
and  restoring  the  human  hair,'  introducing  a  new 
feature  in  this  line.  By  the  plan  of  this  inventor 
combs  and  brushes  are  to  be  constructed  of  different 
metals,  so  that  when  in  use  electric  currents  are  given 
off;  '  thereby  the  skin  is  caused  to  be  stimulated,  and 
a  healthy  action  ensues,  restoring  the  hair  to  its  ori- 
ginal color,  and  generally  improving  its  appearance.' 
The  same  effect  may  be  produced  by  having  the 
articles  formed  partly  of  metal  having  batteries  con- 
nected therewith  when  in  use.  As  the  patent  claim 
long  since  expired,  the  above  method  is  open  to  any 
enterprising  individual  wishing  to  experiment." 

NEW   USES   FOR    THE    SUN'S   RAYS. 

The  thermo-electric  battery  is  exciting  the  imagina- 
tions of  men  of  science,  causing  them  to  call  up 
wonderful  visions  of  a  future  when  much  of  the  work 
of  the  world  shall  be  done  by  sunshine.  Like  wind- 
mills, thermo-electric  batteries  might  be  erected  all 
over  the  country,  finally  converting  into  mechanical 
force,  and  thus  into  money,  gleams  of  sunshine, 
which  would  be  to  them  as  wind  to  the  sails  of  a 
mill.  What  stores  of  fabulous  wealth  are,  as  far  as 
our  earth  is  concerned,  constantly  wasted  by  the  non 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         247 

retention  of  the  solar  rays  poured  out  upon  the 
Desert  of  Sahara!  Nature  here  refuses  to  use  her 
wonderful  radiation  net,  for  we  cannot  cover  the 
desert  sands  with  trees,  and  man  is  left  alone  to  try 
his  skill  in  retaining  solar  energy.  Hitherto  helpless, 
we  need  not  be  so  much  longer,  and  the  force  of  a 
Sahara  sun  may  be  carried  through  wires  to  Cairo> 
and  thence  irrigate  the  desert;  or  possibly,  if  need 
be,  it  could  pulsate  under  our  streets  and  be  made  to 
burn  in  Greenland. 

THE   OCEAN   A   SOURCE   OF    ELECTRICITY. 

An  important  experiment  was  made  by  M.  Duche- 
min,  of  Paris,  during  a  holiday  at  the  seaside.  He 
made  a  small  cork  buoy,  and  fixed  to  it  a  disc  of  char- 
coal containing  a  small  plate  of  zinc.  He  then  threw 
the  buoy  into  the  sea,  and  connected  it  with  copper 
wires  to  an  electric  alarum  on  the  shore.  The  alarum 
instantly  began  to  ring,  and  went  on  ringing,  and  it 
is  added  that  sparks  may  be  drawn  between  the  two 
ends  of  the  wires.  Thus  the  ocean  seems  to  be  a 
powerful  and  inexhaustible  source  of  electricity,  and 
the  small  experiment  of  M.  Duchemin  may  lead  to 
most  important  results. 

ELECTRICITY   AS   AN   EXECUTIONER. 

It  has  been  proposed  to  substitute  a  method  less 
clumsy  than  those  now  obtaining  for  the  execution  of 
criminals,  and  the  adoption  of  electricity  for  this 
purpose  has  enthusiastic  advocates  in  Germany,  as 


248  OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

well  as  in  France,  as  witness  the  following  imposing 
description  of  a  method  proposed  by  a  German 
writer:  "In  a  dark  room,  draped  with  black,  and 
which  is  lighted  only  by  a  single  torch — the  chamber 
of  execution — there  shall  stand  an  iron  image  of  Jus- 
tice with  her  scales  and  sword.  Stern  Justice  is 
popularly  supposed  to  have  no  bowels,  but  the  Ger- 
man goddess  will  carry  a  powerful  battery  in  her 
inside;  and  this  battery  will  be  connected  with  an 
arm-chair — the  seat  of  death.  In  front  of  the  chair 
will  stand  the  judge's  tribunal,  and  only  the  judge, 
jury,  and  other  officers  will  be  present  with  the  cri- 
minal during  the  ceremony  of  the  execution.  This 
will  consist  in  the  judge  reading  the  story  of  the 
crime  committed  by  the  prisoner,  who  will  be  rigidly 
manacled  to  the  aforesaid  arm-chair,  and  when  this  is 
done,  the  judge  will  break  his  rod  of  office,  and  toss 
it  into  one  of  the  scale-pans  of  justice,  at  the  same 
time  extinguishing  the  solitary  torch.  The  descent  of 
the  pan  will  complete  the  electric  circuit,  and  shock 
the  wretch  into  the  next  world." 

It  is  also  suggested  to  utilize  the  electric  fluid  in 
killing  animals.  A  battery  and  coil  would  be  far 
more  effective  and  far  less  cruel  tools  than  the  pole- 
axe  or  the  sticking-knife  We  suppose  the  angler 
would  consider  his  occupation  gone  if  he  had  to 
fish  with  an  electric  line  and  a  torpor-producing  bait  > 
yet  the  whaler  has  a  notion  that  he  can  catch  his 
monsters  upon  an  analogous  plan.  A  London  firm 
have  obtained  a  patent  for  a  method,  startling  to 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         249 

"  old  salts  "  in  its  originality,  for  catching  whales  by 
means  of  electricity.  By  their  plan  every  whaleboat 
is  provided  with  a  galvanic  battery.  Wires  from 
opposite  poles  run  down  to  the  points  of  each  set  of 
harpoons.  When  the  whale  is  near,  two  harpoons  are 
thrown  as  nearly  simultaneously  as  possible,  which  when 
embedded  in  the  flesh  of  the  monster,  complete  the 
circuit.  The  charge  is  expected  to  be  sufficiently 
powerful  to  paralyze  the  animal,  so  that  the  small  boat 
may  advance  and  dispatch  him  at  leisure. 

ELECTEIC    CLOCKS. 

A  citizen  of  Burlington,  Vermont,  has  invented  a 
clock  that  runs  by  electricity,  and  never  requires 
winding.  It  has  only  three  wheels,  no  weights  or 
springs,  and  it  is  claimed  that  it  has  little  friction,  is 
not  affected  by  heat,  cold,  dampness  or  jarring.  A 
single  clock  and  battery  can  be  connected  with  any 
number  of  dials  and  indicators  in  the  same  building, 
or  even  along  the  whole  line  of  a  railway. 

A  magnetic  clock,  invented  by  Daniel  Drawbaugh, 
of  Milltown,  Cumberland  county,  Pennsylvania,  is 
sufficiently  remarkable  to  be  wo: :  description.  The 
magnetism  of  the  earth,  an  inexhaustible  source  of 
power,  is  made  to  oscillate  the  pendulum,  and  the 
simplicity  of  all  the  works  gives  an  assurance  of  the 
least  possible  friction.  At  a  certain  point  the  move- 
ments of  the  pendulum  itself  shut  off  magnetic  con- 
nection with  the  earth,  and  at  another  point  restore 
the  connection,  thus  securing  conditions  necessary  to 


250          OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

produce  its  oscillations.  The  works  are  so  ingenious 
and  simple  that  it  is  no  wild  assertion  to  make  that, 
were  it  not  for  the  unavoidable  wearing  out  caused  by 
even  the  small  amount  of  friction,  the  clock  would 
run  as  long  as  the  solid  earth  endures.  This  clock 
was  hung  against  the  board  partition,  with  all  its 
works  exposed,  subject  to  the  jarrings  of  machinery 
and  obstructions  from  dust  settling  on  it,  for  years, 
yet  it  ran  continuously  and  uniformly,  with  only  slight 
reported  variations,  as  tested  by  transit  observations 
at  noon. 

STEAM   AND    ELECTRICITY 

Mr.  W.  H.  Bailey,  an  English  inventor,  has  pro 
posed  a  new  system  of  sea  telegraphy,  by  means  of 
which  vessels  can  communicate  in  foggy  weather,  or 
when  a  considerable  distance  apart.  It  consists 
simply  in  the  adaptation  of  the  Morse  code  of  signals 
to  a  steam  whistle.  The  message  is  read  by  ear,  the 
whistle,  worked  by  a  hand  lever,  giving  forth  long 
and  short  sounds  corresponding  to  the  long  and  short 
lines  of  the  Morse  system.  According  to  experiments 
made  by  the  inventor,  it  is  believed  that  a  twelve  inch 
whistle  can  be  heard  at  a  distance  of  six  miles,  and 
that  two  vessels  passing  within  hearing  could  converse 
at  the  rate  of  twelve  hundred  words  an  hour.  The 
advantages  of  such  a  system  in  foggy  weather  are 
evident. 

It  would  startle  many  people,  who  happened  to  see 
a  locomotive  blowing  off  steam  at  a  railway  station,  if 


OUTGROWTHS  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH.         251 

they  were  told  that  there  i»  electricity  enough  gener- 
ated in  the  discharge  of  steam  to  blow  the  whole 
train  to  atoms,  if,  instead  of  being  dissipated,  it  were 
collected.  The  fact  was  first  accidentally  noticed  by 
an  English  engineer,  who  perceived  sparks,  which 
proved  to  be  electrical,  among  the  escaping  steam. 
The  discovery  was  confirmed  by  the  construction  of  a 
hydro-electrical  machine  in  the  shape  of  a  boiler  set 
on  glass  legs.  The  steam,  as  it  rushes  out  of  the 
escape  valve,  is  received  on  a  series  of  metallic  points 
by  which  it  is  gathered  and  accumulated  in  the  con- 
ductor, as  in  an  ordinary  electrical  machine,  in  which 
the  electricity  is  generated  by  the  friction  of  a  glass- 
plate  or  cylinder.  Will  engineers  ever  come  to  appre- 
ciate the  fact  that  every  locomotive,  or  tug,  or  steamer 
carries  the  means  of  lighting  itself  far  better  and  more 
cheaply  than  by  any  lamp  f 

THE   EDISON   ELECTRIC   LOCOMOTIVE. 

The  Edison  electric  locomotive  is  about  the  size  of 
an  ordinary  hand-car  which  railroad  laborers  propel 
along  the  track,  and  consists  simply  of  one  of  Edi- 
son's generators  on  wheels.  When  this  apparatus  is 
intended  to  generate  electricity,  the  armature  is 
turned  with  great  rapidity  by  two  powerful  .mag- 
nets, and  takes  from  them  a  quantity  of  magnetism 
or  electricity,  which  is  used  for  any  purpose  for  which 
it  may  be  needed.  A  steam  engine  of  at  least  five- 
horse  power  is  needed  -to  turn  the  armature  of  one  of 
these  efenerators.  In  the  locomotive  the  generator 


252  OUTGROWTHS   OF   THE   TELEGEAPH. 

receives  instead  of  generating  electricity,  and  the 
armature  turns  with  great  rapidity  as  the  current 
passes  through  it.  It  is  like  winding  up  silk  on  one 
bobbin  and  unwinding  it  on  another.  In  running 
the  locomotive,  therefore,  two  generators  are  used, 
one  stationary  in  the  engine-house,  worked  by  steam 
and  generating  the  current,  and  the  other  on  the 
locomotive  receiving  motion  from  the  current.  The 
armature  on  the  locomotive  is  geared  to  the  driving- 
wheels,  so  that  it  makes  four  revolutions  to  one  of 
the  diiving-wheels.  It  is  as  if  the  stationary  engine 
wound  up  a  spring  in  one  generator  to  be  let  loose 
and  impart  motion  to  another.  Electric  motors  are 
plenty  as  blackberries,  and  toy  locomotives  going  by 
electricity  have  been  made  to  run  around  a  table. 
Dr.  Siemen,  of  Berlin,  and  Edison  are  the  first  to  con- 
struct locomotives  of  any  size.  The  problem  has 
always  been  to  get  the  electricity  to  the  engine  with- 
out having  to  carry  along  the  whole  generating  appa- 
ratus on  the  train.  The  new  plan  is  to  make  the 
track  carry  the  current.  It  makes  no  difference 
whether  the  locomotive  is  standing  still  or  going  at 
the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour,  so  far  as  receiving  the 
current  through  the  rails  is  concerned.  The  current 
reaches  the  locomotive  wherever  it  may  be  found  on 
the  track,  and  entering  by  the  wheels  reaches  the  arma- 
ture and  sets  it  revolving. 

ELECTRICITY   AIDING   WEARY   CASH    GIRLS. 

An  enterprising  dry  goods  firm  in  this  city  have 
recently  tried  the  experiment  of  running  their  cash 


OUTGROWTHS    OF    THE   TELEGKAPH.  253 

system  by  electricity,  and  with  excellent  results.  Pre- 
vious to  the  introduction  of  electricity,  on  Saturdays, 
particularly  in  the  afternoon,  the  din  and  confusion, 
and  the  incessant  call  of  "  cash !  "  "  cash !  "  "  cash !  " 
by  the  saleswomen  and  salesmen  were  absolutely  deaf- 
ening. So  the  two  Ehrich  brothers  put  their  heads 
together  to  invent  something  that  would  call  the  cash 
girls  without  so  much  noise.  "I  suggested  bells," 
says  Mr.  Ehrich,  in  telling  the  story,  but  Louis  said : 
"'No,  that  would  be  as  bad  as  the  cash  calls.'  One 
day  he  came  to  me  and  said,  excitedly:  '"William,  I've 
found  it.  Electricity  is  the  thing.'  I  declare  I  thought 
Louis  had  gone  crazy.  '  Found  what  T  said  I.  '  What 
is  electricity  the  thing  for  ?  '  'Our  cash  girls,'  he  re- 
plied. 'In  the  name  of  conscience,  Louis,'  said  I, 
'what  are  you  going  to  put  electricity  on  our  cash 
girls  for?  I  don't  see  that  anything  is  the  matter 
with  them.'  Then  Louis  began  to  laugh.  He  explained 
that  he  meant  to  apply  electricity  to  call  them,  instead 
of  the  cash  call  used  in  all  the  stores  in  the  city  from 
A.  T.  Stewart's  to  ours.  Come  and  see  his  invention." 
And  he  led  the  way  to  the  register  in  the  center  of 
the  store  under  the  main  staircase,  where  there  are 
thirty  or  more  little  circular  silver-plated  drops,  label 
led  "hosiery,"  "buttons,"  "millinery,"  and  so  on,  with 
numbers  also  to  correspond  with  the  sections.  Every 
now  and  then,  as  if  by  magic,  down  dropped  one  of 
the  little  silver  plates.  A  young  man  standing  by  the 
side  of  the  register  instantly  spoke,*  "hosiery,"  or 
"  trimmings,"  1,  2  or  3,  as  the  case  might  be,  and  as 


254  OUTGROWTHS    OP    THE    TELEGRAPH. 

soon  as  he  thus  announced  the  department  and  num- 
ber, off  started  the  head  girl  in  the  line  of  cash  girls 
seated  on  the  other  side  of  the  register.  In  the  mean 
time  others  came  up  as  fast  as  the  first  departed  and 
took  their  seats  in  the  line.  There  was  no  confusion, 
no  hurry,  not  a  call  throughout  the  large  and  busy 
establishment  although  dollars  and  parcels  by  the  hund- 
red were  passing  over  the  counters.  Near  each  of 
the  counters  are  little  cord-like  straps  running  back 
of  the  saleswomen,  that  they  pull  whenever  a  purchase 
is  made  and  a  sale  completed,  and  which  are  connected 
with  electrical  wires  running  under  the  floors  and 
joined  to  the  drops  at  the  register. 

CONCLUSION. 

We  must  now  bid  our  reader  farewell,  trusting 
that  he  will  have  enjoyed  the  variety  of  entertain- 
ment and  appreciated  the  instructive  matter  pre- 
sented in  the  foregoing  pages.  We  also  trust  that 
he  will  find  them  useful  for  future  reference  and 
companionable  in  solitary  hours  to  come.  Of  his 
charity,  we  ask  him  to  take  them  as  they  are  and  as 
they  profess  to  be.  Then,  we  modestly  assure  our- 
selves, he  cannot  be  disappointed,  and  humbly  believe 
that  he  will  be  abundantly  satisfied. 


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